


Brotherly Races

by ARSONjST



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Arguing, Car Accidents, College AU, Drag Racers, Fight Scenes, Hospital Visit, Illegal Activities, Kinda?, Manipulation, Protective Wilbur Soot, Sickfic, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, injuries, not beta read ever, sleepy bois inc - Freeform, we die like l'manburg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28570779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARSONjST/pseuds/ARSONjST
Summary: Tommy should know better than to tag along with a near stranger to an undisclosed location, but Dream promises they're going to see a drag race, with fast cars and illegal bets, and he also promises to let Tubbo tag along.Wilbur is also not too happy to see his younger brothers somewhere he's not even supposed to be. He's really not happy at all.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 89
Kudos: 505





	1. Tommy's Big Boy Decision Goes Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> When I originally posted bits of this story on my Tumblr it kinda popped off, so I'm hoping for a similar reaction here-  
> If you like this, don't hesitate to follow my Tumblr (arson-lst, it's an L) and send me asks or messages there :)
> 
> Also, Important, there is one fight scene in this story :) be wary.

Tubbo's leg bounced under his desk as the teacher droned on and on about what they'd be learning in this college-level math class. It wasn't that he was bored of what the teacher was saying, in fact, he knew he should've been paying attention; it was just that Tommy had decided to start whispering with the kid next to him and the only words Tubbo had been able to pick up were 'drag race tonight.'

Tommy was sociable, loud, well-liked, and respectful. He was able to befriend almost anyone he came across, which was usually a good thing in Tubbos eyes. Tubbo wasn't timid, he wasn't shy by any means, he could hold a conversation easily, but Tommy made it look so effortless. Especially today, even if Tubbo was worried it would become a bad thing as the boy sitting next to Tommy in the pale green hoodie grinned.

"I can take you if you don't have a ride." The senior, named Clay (or as he preferred to be called, Dream) said, leaning back in his chair and popping some mint gum in his mouth like it was bubble gum.

"Hell yeah! When and where?" Tommy grinned and Tubbo couldn't help the nerves that gnawed at his stomach.

"Here, give me your Snap and I'll message you later." He motioned for Tommy's phone and the younger boy eagerly handed it over. Tubbo's leg bounced again, quicker this time as if he subconsciously knew it was a bad idea. The teacher, who was still rambling about calculators and parabolas, sending an odd glance to the back of the room. Nearly silent, Tubbo knocked on the desk twice, alerting Tommy to shut up, and he did, after a small sorry to his friend. Once Tommy got his phone back, the older kid winked and turned to pay attention to the teacher. Tommy turned to Tubbo with an excited grin and Tubbo just sighed, sinking deeper into his chair.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Tubbo asked, gently rubbing his thumb against a bee keychain he'd gotten as a kid.

"It'll be fine! It's just a drag race, Tubbo. We've followed these racers for years, won't it be so cool to see it all up close?" Tommy grinned, walking down the street with newfound confidence.

"Cool and illegal," Tubbo commented, crossing his arms as he tugged on the keychain again.

"Dream promised me we'd be fine, okay?" Tommy bumped Tubbo's shoulder, "they've got lookouts for cops and everything! We just have to sneak out and sneak back in."

Tubbo sighed, "We have to dodge _Technoblade_. We're screwed."

Tommy rolled his eyes with a quick laugh and slugged his best friend's shoulder, "C'mon, it'll be fine. I already told Philza we were going to a study group tonight."

"Surely not! You dunce!" Tubbo's hand rested under his nose as he laughed, before he paused, "we're not actually going are we..?" 

Tubbo twirled the keychain in his hand and gripped the keys as they approached their front door. He wanted Wilbur or Techno to overhear them and tell them off for being reckless, but no older brothers appeared in the doorway as Tubbo tested it to make sure it was locked before he tried to open it. Even if Tubbo technically only lived here when his parents were on vacation, his shared room with Tommy would always feel more like home than his own bedroom next to his sisters in their own home.

"Of course we are!" Tommy exclaimed as Tubbo softly unlocked the door with a soft sigh, he swung the door open and bit his lip, definitely not ready for what was coming later.

* * *

Philza came home at exactly six pm as he did every night he worked. Tommy, and by extension Tubbo, had only lived in the house for a bit over a year. They'd never asked what the older man did for work, they never really wanted to, it paid the bills and put food on the table. Something Tommy hadn't had consistently for the past fifteen years. Tubbo just liked Philza too much to ask something personal, since he was afraid to upset him.

"How was the first day?" Philza asked, giving Tommy and Tubbo's small side hugs as he set down a plastic bag full of good smelling food.

"Boring." Tommy winked at Tubbo, who rolled his eyes in response. Philza seemingly ignored their behavior as he walked through the expansive kitchen to the edge of the stairs and shouted 'dinner!' up to the two older boys.

"What time is that study group?" Philza asked as he came back in the room, Tommy had shoved aside his homework and piled it on the table while Tubbo took great care in putting everything away properly in his bag. As Philza took out some dishes from the local Chinese restaurant, Tubbo's favorite place to eat, Techno and Wilbur came down the stairs.

"In like, an hour, one of our friends is picking us up," Tommy says and the conversation is dropped as soon as Philza catches a glance of his two older sons.

"Woah, you two are dressed up." Philza teased, giving the two quick hugs as he always did.

"I have a photoshoot thing I'm helping Niki with." Wilbur said, shrugging, "She asked for me to drag Techno along with me."

"How'd you even convince him?" Tommy snatched his food from Philza, something he did instinctively. He was sent a sad glance but no one commented on it.

"He said he'd buy me food for a week." Techno laughed, sitting down and thanking Philza as his food was handed to him. Philza laughed and high-fived Wilbur with a grin and the two took their seats to eat. The table was filled with soft conversation, about classes and friends. Tommy mentioned meeting Dream, and Techno sent him an odd glare, but nothing was said about it. When dinner was finished, Tubbo helped clean up as Wilbur and Techno immediately left for their supposed photoshoot. Tubbo's way of thanking the family for letting him crash there instead of his aunts or grandparents for months at a time was through chores, considering Philza refused to accept money from the family.

"Thanks for helping out as always," Philza grinned, ruffling Tubbo's hair as he's distracted by a soft ring. Tommy glances over and quickly swipes up and presses his phone to his ear and Tubbo dried his hands off as Tommy grinned happily.

"Okay! We'll be out in ten!" Tommy hangs up and calls Tubbo over. With a knowing look at Philza, he turns on his heel and follows Tommy out the door. 

Philza's eyes drift down to their schoolbags, left on the floor under the table.

* * *

Tommy took a seat in the back of the car, Tubbo slipping in beside him. After a moment, Dream turned around and waved, left hand gripping the steering wheel as he waited for the two to buckle, then started to pull out.

"So, these are our two lab rats?" A new voice rings and Tubbo tilts his head at the unknown voice belonging to the passenger. Dream hadn't mentioned bringing friends with him.

"Sapnap!" Dream laughs, smacking the guy's head as he laughed.

"Tommy's the blonde, Tubbo's the brunette." Dream snickers, "this is Sapnap, he's a dunce."

"Hey! I'm _snazzy_!" Sapnap shouted, making an odd face, Dream rolled his eyes as he started driving forward. They made it onto the highway, driving down the long nearly empty road for a while until they turn off onto an exit, and then turned onto _the_ road. The famous road Tommy had only seen in images. After pulling up to a heavily accented woman, and giving her a code word, they drove into the main area. Slipping out of the car once it was parked, Dream waved them on and guided them towards the large crowd. As they made it into the hustle and bustle of the racing scene, they stopped in front of a car where an older boy waved, sliding up a pair of white welding goggles on his face.

"George!" Dream rustled his hair and George shoved him away, laughing out loud as he punched his arm.

"Who do you have here?" George asked, a British accent slipping out of his mouth, which Tubbo wasn't expecting.

"This is Tommy and Tubbo, fresh meat." Sapnap grinned and Tommy laughed.

"Yeah yeah. Fresh meat? I'll kick your ass!" Tommy teased and Sapnap gasped in mock offense.

Tubbo bit his lip, the strong smell of rubber and gasoline making his senses fill as he stared down the tree-lined road. Tommy grinned beside him, amicably waving his hands as he talked to Sapnap. To occupy his mind, he glanced around and tries to recognize everyone he could. It was a fun game, making up stories for everyone around him until his eyes settled on a familiar head of pink hair. He gripped Tommy's sleeve, tugging on it and nodding in the direction of the person.

"Is.. is that Technoblade?" Tommy says blankly and Sapnap nods. The group watches as he high-fives Wilbur and slips into a race car.

"Yeah! He's been racing here for years!" Sapnap chuckles, "what, you want his autograph?"

"No, that's our brother," Tubbo states softly and, if it was possible to see in the dim light, Sapnap paled.

"Your _brother_ is fucking _Technoblade_?!" Dream shouted, laughing, "Dude! Dude! No fucking way! He's your brother and you've never been brought here?!" 

"Oi! Shut up!" Tommy whined, "Techno doesn't even know we're here."

"Oh damn, did y'all sneak out?" Sapnap asked and Tommy shook his head.

"Nah. Lied to my dad, said we were going to a study club."

"Damn, big kids, look at them _lying_ ," George laughed and Tommy laughed along. Tubbo couldn't help a sinking feeling in his stomach as a car engine roared and a tall man with a deep voice shouted,

"The race is about to begin!"

Sapnap and Dream immediately grabbed the two younger boys and yanked them to the front of the crowd while George laughs behind them. On the track, Wilbur was leaning inside the window of the car, nudging Technoblade's shoulder and laughing as he waved and stepped back. The other car being driven by someone they didn't know, revved which caused the crowd behind them to cheer and Tubbo grinned, glancing at Tommy and the taller boy beamed brightly.

This might be illegal, but this was going to be the most fun they'd had in months.

"Hell yes!" Tubbo grinned and cheered along with the crowd. Tommy whoops really loud, his voice distinct against the rest, and Wilbur looks over at the familiar sound. His eyes dart around as he feels his arms prickle with agitation at the sight of his brothers standing beside Dream and Sapnap.

"Three," A pink-haired girl shouted, waving a flag as the cars revved. Wilbur backed off, slipping to the side out of the crowd, out of the view of Tommy and Tubbo.

"Two!" She shouted, raising the flag. Wilbur glanced over, noticing Dream's light grip on Tommy's football jacket and it all clicked in his mind.

"One!" She flung the flag down and the cars lurched off, tires squealing as the engines roared. Techno's car peeled off at the beginning quickly creating distance and easily beating whoever was against him. The crowd lost their mind, applauding and screaming. Tubbo and Tommy laughed, clinging to each other as their hearts pounded at the sight of their brother winning.

"Holy shit!" Tommy cried, turning back to Dream who cackled.

"Good first race to see, huh big man?" Dream rustled his hair and the crowd backed off and dispersed a bit even as electric excitement rippled through the audience. Sapnap cheered, waving his hands and whooping mostly to annoy George who cackled instead and whooped along with him.

"We get fifty bucks from Karl! We get fifty bucks from Karl!" Sapnap repeated a few times as he danced around, making Tubbo and Tommy burst into laugher. With a small grin, Dream shook Tommy around a bit while George and Sapnap laughed and watched. Tommy was quick to retaliate and grab Dream's arms while laughing. Everything in this moment was pure bliss, even if Tubbo had a feeling someone was staring into his back. In a moment of quiet, there was someone who cleared their throat, and part of the audience hushed at the clear anger and disappointment in the tone. Freezing immediately, Dream looked over and his nose scrunched. With hitched breaths, Tubbo and Tommy froze. Slowly, their eyes drifted over and they stared at each other, before slowly turning to meet the head of curly hair that looked at them.

"Why the fuck are you two here?" Wilbur snaps. His eyes were dark in clear anger but it wasn't directed to the two freshmen, it was directed at the senior who stood above them.

"Ah! Wilby- _Wilbur_!" Tommy shouted, sweating a bit. Tubbo bit his lip and looked away, dread pooling in his stomach and weighing him down.

"Answer the fucking question, _Thomas_." He snapped, stepping closer to the two. Tommy panicked, his hands becoming so slick he had to wipe them on his jeans. Tommy stammered a bit before Dream interjected, holding an arm out in front of the two boys. 

"I drove them here."

Wilbur turned his head aside, biting on his lip hard enough to draw blood, he takes a deep breath while trying to stay calm. Philza would be pissed if he got in a fight, but he felt anger bubbling in his stomach as he turned back and spat, "you drove my brothers here?"

"Yeah?" Dream smirks, popping the gum in his mouth as a sly grin crossed his face, "and what about it, _sugar_?"

Wilbur rolled his shoulders a bit, trying to keep calm. In slow steps, Dream made his way up close to the slightly taller boy and grinned, spitting his gum onto the dirt beside him. His hand clenched in a fist, the fabric of his fingerless gloves curling as he mocked a punch at Wilbur. The taller boy stared him down, not even flinching as Dream stopped his fist inches from his face. This caught the audience's attention and they slowly started to circle back up, this time for a fight and not a race.

"Dream, come on. This is stupid, let's go." George said, grabbing Dream's hoodie and tugging back. In a sharp motion, Dream ripped his hoodie from George's grip and shoved him back, causing the audience around them to cheer on the possible fight. Wilbur could hear Technoblade's engine approaching, he'd have to be quick.

"You're not supposed to bring kids to the track, Dream. Your rule, not mine." Wilbur bares his teeth a bit in a snarl and his opponent laughs with what almost looks like a snarl.

"It won't hurt them, a little bit of lawbreaking never hurt anyone—" Dream doesn't have time to finish before Wilbur slams his fist directly into his nose in one clean and precise hit. There are two pops and a loud slap that echo off of the hit and the audience gasps and cheers.

"Oh _fuck_!" Tommy shouts, grabbing Tubbo and yanking him out of the way as Dream staggers back. He wipes his nose with his arm, red streaking his pale skin and he grins. Jumping forward, Dream grabs Wilbur's hair and drags the taller male to the ground. Whipping himself around, Wilbur grabs onto Dream's hoodie, yanking it back and punching his gut a few times, writhing in his grip until he can get the younger boy beneath him. He raises his fist and slams a punch straight into Dream's nose, again and again. Dream managed to buck Wilbur off after a few hits, taking a short pause and then he slams the older boy's face into the concrete a few times as payback. They clamber onto their feet while shouting obscenities and wrestle again, throwing any punches they can possibly land on the other. In the blink of an eye, Dream trips and crashes into the ground with an angry Wilbur above him who shouts in his face. Nodding at each other in a signal, Tommy and Tubbo try to push Wilbur off of Dream while the audience watches in shock, not expecting the fight to get this bad. Sapnap and George stand a bit off to the side, unsure how to best intercept the fight. In a haze, Wilbur shoves both of his brothers away, causing Tommy to stumble and fall back against someone's legs. His arm is caught in an iron grip that makes Tommy's heart plummet to his sneakers.

"Wilbur! Enough!" The voice above him shouts and the older turns with a bloody face. Taking off his racing jacket sharply is Technoblade, who stares down his brother with a near animalistic snarl.

"But—"

"Off. _Now_. Dad's gonna be pissed at you for getting messed up." Techno snaps and the audience quickly disperses from the scene, not wanting to get involved anymore. Lifting up Tommy, Technoblade grabbed his and Tubbo's shoulders and shoved them towards the car, glaring after them.

"Get in the back of Wilbur's car and don't fucking leave." Techno snapped and Tommy and Tubbo nodded. Techno handed Wilbur his jacket to hold against his face as the two young boys quickly slipped off to the car and opened the back door of the small Mazda. Wilbur had driven the car since high school, and Tommy had only good memories inside of its gray metal exterior. So much for that now. With dread pooling in his body, Tommy sat down with the weight of his guilt crashing down. On instinct, he immediately buckled in while Tubbo bit his lip and looked down in fear and shame as he scrambled into the car.

"We're so screwed. We're so fucking screwed! I fucking told you not to do anything!" Tubbo shouts. There's so much anger and fear bubbling in his words as he slammed the back door shut, that the words lose their sharp-tongued approach. He glances back to see Wilbur and Technoblade standing by their race car, a phone held up between the two as they talk into it.

"I didn't think Techno and Wilbur would be here!" Tommy shouts back, groaning as he looks up at the ceiling of the car with misty eyes, "Philza's gonna kick me out, send me back to the system."

"He's not like that, he wouldn't!" Tubbo feigns support even in his angry state. When Tommy doesn't reply he sighs, running his hand through the front bit of his hair. Before Tubbo can say anything else to try and cheer up his friend, the car shakes with the force of whoever opened the driver's door. Throwing himself into the car, Wilbur slams the driver's door shut, not speaking as he chucks his phone into the passenger's seat. There's a few seconds of silence as they all breathed, the adrenaline from the fight draining out as the dread started to kick in.

"When we get home, you two are going straight to the living room. Techno already called Dad." Wilbur snaps, starting up the car and slowly pulling out of the lot. With a shaky voice, Tommy replies with a short and simple, "Yes sir."

The drive home was short but absolutely silent, with none of the usual music or talk. The only feeling that increases over the ride are trepidation and doubt, which gnaws at the two young boys in the back. They knew it was illegal, they lied directly to Philza, they were _so_ screwed. Tommy spent the ride going over what he had in his emergency bag, Tubbo spent the car ride mentally living out every possible scenario. 

Pulling into the driveway, Wilbur waited a few minutes before Technoblae pulled in behind him in his usual car instead of the drag race car they'd seen him in. With clear anger, Technoblade got out first before Wilbur did. Before slamming his door shut, Wilbur snapped, "get out."

Tubbo is out of the car immediately, almost worried he'd be in trouble if he didn't get out quick enough. Unlike Tubbo, Tommy shut his door casually and wandered around the car, his head hung, as they stepped up to the house. Technoblade opened the door and pointed to the living room with a huff. Wilbur followed his younger brothers in and sat down on the couch beside them. These family meetings usually only happened when Philza had a work trip or they needed to actually plan something between them. They'd never gotten in trouble in the year Tommy had lived in the house. 

Tommy couldn't stop scolding himself for getting comfortable too quickly.

Tubbo began to rub his thumb against the keychain, his leg bouncing out of anxiety. Tommy bit his lip hard enough, or enough times, to draw blood. When Technoblade comes back into the living room, he opens a small box and kneels in front of Wilbur to start cleaning out the cut on his cheeks from the concrete and his busted nose, lips, and knuckles. There's absolute silence as he works, and once he's done, he sits on the armchair directly across from Philza's vacant seat.

There's a creak of the floorboards and a soft sigh and Philza walks into the room, taking his seat opposite Technoblade. There's a beat of silence before he simply says,

"I'm extremely disappointed. In all four of you."


	2. Philza? Hah, More Like MADZA!! Haha They're SCREWED.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Philza scolds his children and makes a grave mistake. Tubbo makes a damn good breakfast, learns information from Wilbur, and chases down Tommy's running thoughts, like a good kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this au has quickly become my favorite-

The house was tense.  
No, saying the house was tense was an understatement, the house was on edge, strained, and uptight. The family within staring at each other, exchanging glances and nervously slipping their eyes away from the gaze of their father; who folded his hands in his lap and sighed with guilt and anger weighing him down. No one in the room feels much better, the guilt eating them alive as they sit in a moment of silence as if they're praying for the strength or patience for this conversation.

"Technoblade." Philza started gently, his eyes flickering over to the pink-haired adult, "We've talked about this and I know you're old enough to make your own decisions or whatever and I know you're an adult, but that doesn't make it okay. You and Wilbur are supposed to be good role models for Tommy and Tubbo. I know it's not your responsibility, and it's obviously not something I'm going to force upon you, but I thought you two would be better.

We've also talked about this racing thing, you know I don't like you going there. You've already gotten in trouble there, same with you Wilbur. You told me you'd stop going there after you started helping Niki with her music and photography jobs, and you both not only lied to me, but you both went back on promises. Which doesn't only disappoint me, but upsets me too."

The house falls into silence and Philza turns to Tommy and Tubbo, "You two I... hmph. I guess I should've warned you or spoke to you about it, but I believed you'd both have better judgment. Tubbo, you understand that I have to tell your father what happened, right?" The boy nods. "I wish I could just swipe this under the rug, but he should hear it from me."

"I am just, so disappointed in all of you. You should all know how dangerous something like that is!" He's starting to get angry, he's starting to not think of what he's going to say, "I've given you a home, food, clothes, _everything_ , and the least you can do back is respect my only rule I've ever had for you all: don't lie to me!"

Tommy bites his lip, taking a shuddering breath. Wilbur looks aside, his eyes scanning over Tubbo who seems way too calm despite the tears that drip down his face. Wilbur isn't sure if Tubbo even knows he's started crying. Technoblade is almost completely zoned out, his mind barely registering what's happening around him until Philza stands abruptly.

"I brought you in here with the kindness in my heart, I won't hesitate to have you leave."

As soon as the words leave his mouth, he knows he’s said it wrong and he instantly regrets it. He can see Tommy's body fully lock up and his eyes immediately stare into Philza, like he's waiting for some command or secret message to pass his lips. Maybe he's waiting for Philza to laugh, to step forward and ruffle his hair, to apologize, but when Tommy is on his feet and grabbing his best friend by his sleeve and running off to the stairs Philza knows he'd screwed up.

"Tommy!" He calls, but it's too late. Two sets of socked feet disappear up the stairs and a few seconds after he hears a door click closed. Wilbur is staring directly at Philza, mouth agape in genuine shock and anger. Technoblade takes a breath as he stands shakily.

"Philza--" He doesn't even call him dad like usual, "I've said some shit to Tommy before, I've said things that he'd resented me for, held malice against me for, but never in my years of living with him, have I said anything similar to that. I am thoroughly disappointed in _you_."

"Techno.." He can't even say he wasn't thinking, he can't even say he didn't mean the words that spilled past his lips. In a sharp motion, Technoblade swipes his keys up from the couch cushion beside him and turns for the front door. There's silence as he opens it and a forceful slam as he rams it closed as hard as he can, shaking the wreath on the door so hard it falls, and he leaves it there. Wilbur stands and sighs softly, taking off his glasses.

"Go cool off, Dad. But don't forget what you've said here tonight." Wilbur passes by him, almost as silent as a ghost, before his yellow hoodie vanishes up the stairwell and Philza can hear his door click shut as Technoblade peels away from the house in his streetcar.

* * *

Tubbo is up at eight the next morning, allowing the smell of the chocolate chip pancakes he thinks he's measured right, float through the home. He hums as he cooks, trying to distract himself from the dread he feels. He'd called his sisters last night and told them what had happened, they were respectful (surprisingly to him) and told him that they were coming home from their club trip in three days. Giving Tubbo three days to mentally prepare to face his father, his dad wasn't bad or mean like some of Tommy's foster parents had been. He just hated confrontation.

Wilbur's socks rubbed as he made his way downstairs with a yawn, taking a seat at the kitchen's island as he mused softly, "where's Toms?"

"Still asleep, I'm pretty sure." Tubbo held a key up, "I took the window key though, he can't leave without coming down here."

"Smart kid." Wilbur chuckles, resting his head on the cold countertop.

"Mr. Philza didn't mean that last night, did he?" Tubbo asks softly, flipping a pancake in the pan and Wilbur shakes his head.

"No, he regretted it the second it slipped past his lips. That doesn't remove the damage it caused, but it's better than him actually meaning it." Wilbur glances back to the living room, where his father's jacket sits. He winches as he turns back around his cheek hurting from the tension and knuckles hurting from their bruising. As if he can sense it, Tubbo slides some painkillers and an ice pack over, not sparing Wilbur a glance as he downs the pills and the glass of water. Softly, Tubbo says, "You didn't have to fight Dream."

Wilbur scoffs, rubbing the side of his face that isn't bandaged before placing the icepack on his swollen knuckles, "He was bringing you two somewhere dangerous. I couldn't let that slide."

"We weren't in danger though." Tubbo reasons, "we'd been there for maybe... ten minutes?"

"You would've been, one of the race organizers called me last night after everything happened and said the cops showed up. No one was caught, but I would've died if you two had gotten arrested." Wilbur sighs, "you two shouldn't have ever gone, I should've warned you about it."

"But you were there... and Dream said Techno's been racing there for years?" Tubbo slides the pancake onto a plate with around fifteen pancakes on it, he clicks the stove’s heat higher and sets the pan back down, opening a pack of bacon.

"We were stupid teenagers, Tubbo. We raced there in high school." He laughs softly, even as he's frowning, "We got caught our senior year and somehow got off lucky. Philza picked us up from the police station and made us promise we'd never go back... but we did."

"Do you think Philza needs to apologize to us..? I'm upset with what he said and I'm not even your sibling or whatever." The bacon popped and sizzled as Tubbo glanced over at Wilbur.

"He does. That's unacceptable to say in my eyes." Wilbur watches as Tubbo takes out four plates, knowing Technoblade won't be coming back to the house for the annual Saturday morning breakfasts for weeks. He put four pancakes on each plate, except Philza's since he only ate three usually. He put four slices of bacon on each plate too, but there didn't seem to be any scrambled eggs this morning. Wilbur didn't mind, he happily accepted his plate. With a hiss, water rolled off the greasy pan as Tubbo slipped it in the sink to cool it quicker. He shut off the sink and took off his apron, hanging it on a small hook as he turned to head upstairs.

"Tommy..?" He murmured, gently cracking open the bedroom door at the very end of the pale tan hallway that was lined with pictures and awards.

"Go away." The blonde murmurs, staring at the windows.

"Tommy, he didn't mean it." Tubbo shuts the door behind him, pressing his body weight onto it.

Tommy scoffs, whipping back around to face Tubbo, "Didn't mean it? Then why the fuck did he say it!"

"He wasn't thinking! He was trying to scare us, to get us to listen, he's done this before! Remember when he and Wilbur got in that huge fight months ago? It was a similar scenario! He didn't word it right and tore everything apart. Doesn't make it right, of course, but it explains it." Tubbo sighed, looking at his disheveled best friend and offering him a weak smile.

Tommy doesn't budge his hands slap into his sweatpants as he snaps, "He hates me. I bet. I wasn't even supposed to come here, they sent him the wrong kid."

"But he took you in. Philza spent weeks clearing this room from a storage room into a bedroom. He let you pick out your furniture and paint it, all because he wanted to know you." Tubbo sighs, "Who bandaged your hands after you got in that fight? Who called out of work for three days when you were sick? Who literally planned to buy a bigger home for you, Tommy? He did! He cares, it sucks this happened, but we have to move on with a positive mindset, okay..?"

"Why do you always know what to say?" Tommy engulfs his friend in a hug and Tubbo laughs, relief bubbling in his throat.

"It comes with being your best friend."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reminder to follow my tumblr: arson-lst!


	3. Fight or Flight? Tommy Only Has Flight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy has an argument and sneaks out.  
> It doesn't end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! 
> 
> !!! trigger warning for car accidents, slight injury, sneaking out, and arguing !!!

"Fine!" Tommy's arms swung out in a grand gesture, nearly smacking Technoblade who stood only a few inches to his side. The family had devolved into another argument again, tensions in the home increasingly high since Philza's outburst nearly three months ago. It wasn't that they meant for apologies to go unsaid for so long, but life had been busy with everyone getting into finals at school. Spring break had rolled around, even if the weather predicted soft snow flurries for the next two weeks. The small family had tried to have a nice dinner, but it had dissolved at the first mention of Technoblade's new scar from a drag racing crash three weeks prior.

Philza was seated, pinching his nose and trying to bite his tongue, trying to calculate exactly what to say to keep Tommy calm. He can't even get a word out before his son continues.

"If you don't want me here then I'll just go-" Tommy, despite how tough he's trying to be, bites his lip after his voice cracks. Philza panics, holding a hand out,

"Tommy, that'd not what I-"

"No!" Tommy shrieks, slamming his hands down on the table in agitation, "I'm fucking done with these two facades with you! You either love me or hate me, fucking pick one!"

"Tommy," Techno said softly, reaching out and grabbing the younger boy's sleeve. With a glance across the table, Techno could tell Philza was distressed. Tommy looked back at him, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes, but as he turned back Technoblade knew he couldn't talk his brother out of this.

"Tommy, please. I understand you're upset, but I have to go to work Sunday morning.." Philza said softly, trying to keep calm, "It's going to take me all day at most, but once I'm done I'll be back with you guys, okay?"

"But you're always working! You never take time for us!" Tommy shouts. In a panic, he glances back at Wilbur who looks away. The eldest won't admit it, but he secretly agrees with his younger brother.

"He just needs me to move some boxes and work on some projects, Tommy," Techno murmurs again, rubbing a hand on Tommy's back.

"Dad, do you not realize what tomorrow is?" Wilbur buts in and Technoblade wants to scream because Wilbur is most certainly starting a bigger argument here.

"April fourth, right?" Philza says, and before he can open his mouth to continue Tommy cuts him off.

"My birthday, it's my birthday!" He screams, his hands curling in his sleeves.

The house falls into silence. Had they all forgotten?

"Guys, can we stop shouting? Please." Technoblade says, but Philza begins to speak over him.

"It's the only day I can go and help, Tommy. I really want to celebrate your birthday with us here but I can't." With a glance to his left, nerves prickling at his stomach, Philza can't even make eye contact with his youngest son.

"I hate you." Tommy snarls as the tears finally roll over the dam, "you always do this, ever since that drag race night, I've tried to apologize to you for my own stupidity! But, whenever I try to do something with you, you always have something else to do! You never let me talk to you, you're always busy, you don't even care about me do you?!"

"Tommy—" Philza started but Tommy ripped himself up from his chair and it clattered against the floor with a slam. He didn't even look back as he ran past the table and up the stairs, slamming his door.

Now he stood here.

One day had passed, and now snow fell silently as Tommy unlocked his window. He'd made a promise to himself when Tubbo had gotten his license, that he'd stop doing stupid things. But here he was, on his birthday, breath hitching as his sneakers crunched on the rooftops snow. Turning back to shut his window, as made his way across the roof to a small drop-off point he'd used to sneak out multiple times.

It was stupid. This was stupid. He'd never tried to go overnight like this before, hell he'd never tried to leave for multiple days. He'd slipped out for hours to take walks and relax when he felt tense, but he felt lost in this home now. Philza had gone to bed hours ago and the soft thump his bag made as it fell past the living room window was soft as it squished the snow beneath it. He dropped down shortly after, winching as a sharp pain shot up his ankle. His mind kept replaying the conversation from earlier and he sighed softly. On his phone, one notification from Dream lit up, 'come to the corner, we're waiting.'

He had a rush of adrenaline as Dream's drag car revving made his grin grow.

"Cmon Big T!" Sapnap slammed his hands on the car's door and whooped while Tommy laughed.

"Alright alright!" He threw his bag in the backseat and climbed in after it.

"You ready for this race and then a week staying with us?" Dream grins as he pulls around the corner and Tommy laughs.

"Hell yes, I am!" Tommy's grin is bright enough to make everyone smile as Dream floors it down the highway.

* * *

The code word tonight was "big boys only" and Tommy couldn't help the grin that spread across his lips and they drove in. Tonight's plan was simple, one preplanned race against two of their own friends, and then out. They didn't want to risk Tommy being caught at the race by his siblings, so he'd stay in the car the whole time.

Tommy thought Wilbur and Techno were too much of pussies to show up anyway.

Sapnap had bought everyone sodas and pretzels and they leaned on the car as they spoke. George kept an eye out for Wilbur or Technoblade, his eyes continuously scanning the audience, but they didn't seem to show up that night. Or at least, for the first racing round.

"Dream Team Versus El Rapids!" A deep voice resonated and Sapnap slapped the car's door as he cheered.

"Let's go, Dream! Kick their asses!" He ruffles Dream's hair and George laughs softly, sending a gentle smile Dream's way before he moved away from the car.

The anxiety from sneaking out was getting to Tommy and his leg bounced as Dream grinned at Tommy as he sat in the driver's seat. He started the small car with a roar and slowly drove forward, pulling through the crowd to the race track. Shaking hands and bouncing legs, Tommy knew this was probably the most excited he'd ever been. He could feel his heart in his throat as he took a deep breath.

"You ready, Toms?" Dream adjusts his grip on the steering wheel.

"I was born ready for this." Tommy smiles and Dream chuckles as he glances over to the car that pulls up next to them. A guy in a multicolored hoodie gives them a wink and the boy in the beanie beside him whoops out loud. Tommy laughs and turns back to Dream who whoops in response. Despite the tough competitions of the drag race tracks, everyone still seemed to genuinely care about one another, which made Tommy unbelievably happy. Though, nerves still crept in.

If everyone was close, what if that girl they met at the gates with the thick accent, or the pink-haired girl who delivered their drinks, or the tall guy with the deep voice and the bisexual flag, or even the guy with the fox eared headphones told on him?

No... no one here knew who Tommy was just by seeing him, right? It wasn't like he even looked like his brothers—

"Three!" A pink-haired girl shouted, Tommy jumped as he was torn from his thoughts and sat back in his seat.

"Two!" Dream revved twice and then the girl screamed, "One!"

" _Go_!"

As soon as the word left her mouth, Dream let go of the break and the car lurched forward as hard as it could. Tommy could feel the engine rumble under his feet and the movement of the car in his stomach, the wind from the slightly cracked windows tousling his hair as Dream accelerated. The moonlight strobing through the branches of the trees as they pulled down the black tar road. After a short bit of stressed breathing, Tommy cheered as his voice finally found him. Pressing down as hard as he could on the gas, Dream, even in his focused state, laughed hard as they successfully won the race.

"Let's fucking go! Poggers!" Tommy screamed and Dream wheezed as he slowly let the car slow down enough to turn around. The drive back was slow but rejoiceful.

"Holy shit we won that!" Tommy laughed and Dream sat back.

"Hell yeah we did big man, hell yeah we did and I— _shit_!" Dream tried to maneuver the car to the side, off into the dirt path next to the roads, but it was too late. A car slammed into the rear-passengers door as they also tried to desperately serve away from the accident. Tommy screamed, feeling something slice his arm, and he breathed heavily as he leaned away from the impact zone. Their car slid a bit but stayed in the road, and Dream immediately got out of the car as he parked it and made his way over to Tommy's door. He swung it open and unbuckled Tommy before he noticed the blood on his skin.

"Grab a medic! He's hurt!" Dream shouted as a tall, blonde-haired boy ran up and immediately turned around and called for someone named Niki. Dream got Tommy out of the car and helped him lean against it while Sapnap and George poked around both cars to check for damage. Dream's was still drivable, luckily, and would most likely only need a bit of fixing and a new back door. Whoever had crushed the door needed a new headlight and bumper, but since they'd only been going around 10-20 MPH there wasn't too much damage besides Dream's shattered back window.

The pink-haired girl who had always called out the races came over with a heavy-looking backpack.

"Where are you hurt?" She asked, setting the bag down.

"My arm, my right arm." Tommy wheezes and the girl grabs some supplies in a Tupperware box labeled 'bleeding' in a pretty cursive font.

"It's just a small cut, Niki." Dream says, sighing, "I just got worried because of all the blood, and he's younger y'know?"

"Yeah, I get that.. it looks like it was just some glass from the window, it's a clean-cut and not too deep, so no worries." she nods as she applies some pressure to one side of the wound while cleaning it, "this won't even need stitches."

Tommy hisses in pain as Niki works silently, before wrapping his whole forearm tightly with bandages. He thanks her softly and she grins, happily taking a twenty-dollar bill from Sapnap. She walks off towards two tall guys and the rest of the crowd.

Dream sighs, ruffling Tommy's hair with a tiny grin, "Let's get you home, okay? No more of this staying at my house for a few weeks."

Tommy just nods, too shaken to say anything else.

* * *

Luckily for them, the house is still dark when they drive past and park at the corner. Tommy grabs his bag and gets out, waving soft goodbyes. The accident, even if it hadn't been anything big, had scared them all enough to warrant this silence.

His shoes rub against the concrete as he walks along the path to the backyard, his head down as he dodges one of the lights that turn on with motion. He cradled his arm slightly as he turned to the left side of the house, where a little nook was beneath his room and began to climb the ladder his father had left there after Christmas decorations over two years ago. His injured arm burns as he slips open his window and fumbles into his room with seemingly no care. His window is immediately shut before the snow can make it in, and he discards his now torn and bloody jacket in the trash before he falls onto his bed. The dim lights in his room lull him into false security, and he doesn't think to hide his bandaged arm as he slowly drifts asleep.


	4. Did You Know Concussions are a Repercussion from Accidents... haha... oops.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy's too stubborn for his own good, Tubbo forces him to have some sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! trigger warning for ignoring injury, medical talk, passing out, concussions, all that stuff !!!

"Thomas." A voice hissed.

"Phil..?”

"Yeah, what the hell happened to your arm?"

Tommy blinked and sat up, his head lurching in pain as he groaned. The sun burned his eyes and make his head thump as he blinked blearily.

Oh shit, his arm.

"I was cutting up some cheese last night for a snack and I cut my arm. I didn't wanna wake anyone so I just... wrapped it." He lied quickly, years of homes had taught him how to be convincing. Philza saw through it but didn't want to push Tommy, so he nodded and ruffled the boy's hair with a smile as he stood.

"I wanna talk to you over breakfast." He says softly, "we have a lot to speak about. I have to lot to apologize for."

"So do I." Tommy mused and there's a soft silence in the room before Philza turns and walks over to the open door.

"Take your time. I don't have work today." He slipped out into the hall and slowly pulled Tommy's door shut. The blonde looked down at his phone, a message from Dream lighting up.

'Hope u feel better than last night, toms.'

He slipped his phone in his pocket and sighed, cracking his back as he stood. He felt a rush to his head and groaned, his head pounding and making him feel sick. He bit his lip and sighed. Why would his head hurt so bad? He'd just been in the car last night, nothing had happened, right?

He sighed, singling the cause of the headache to him not drinking enough water the day before. That had to be it. He made his way into the hall, trying to ignore the way his head pounded at the brightness of the natural sun. He bit his lip, hard enough to feel a metallic taste in his mouth, as he made his way to the stairs.

Wilbur's laugh was loud, almost piercing through his head as he made it down the staircase. Techno's usually soft voice reverberated so loud in his head Tommy groaned as black dances over his vision and he feels his foot slip. His head makes contact with the wooden floor beneath the stairs— when had he even gotten down? His head feels oddly hollow and extremely full at the same time, and he doesn't even register Wilbur until the taller boy had lifted him, he felt the soft couch squish under him and he groaned.

"Toms? You there?" Wilbur asked, pressing a hand to the boy's forehead.

"Ow- why is it's so bright?" Tommy whined, smacking Wilburs hands away.

"It's... the lights are off Tom..." Wilbur is confused and Tommy whines.

"I.. I'm tired." Tommy sighs, sitting up and Philza comes over with water.

"Here, drink some water, and then take a nap. Tubbo is coming over for lunch today and it's already like... nearing ten. We'll have our talk later when you feel better, okay?" Philza rubs his shoulder and helps Tommy take the cup with shaky hands. He drinks the water, even if his stomach twists angrily in response, and his mind floods with red flags. He's thirsty, the nausea will subside.

Philza pulls the glass away from him and sets it down. Wilbur takes a seat next to Tommy and lets the boy nuzzle his head into his cinnamon and cologne smelling sweater. The smell is fainter than usual, but Tommy doesn't mind, he closes his eyes and hides his face. It's dark here. It's safe.

Tommy wakes up to Tubbo's voice and a softly laugh from someone else. His head, if even possible, hurts more now. But he ignores it in favor of seeing his friend. The sun has moved to rest above the house, and Tommy remembers he has to go to work at the cafe tonight with Dream.

He should probably call out sick.

"Tommy! You're awake! Good!" Tubbo is hauling Tommy into his feet and taking him upstairs before the taller boy can even get a word in or before he can actually get a proper look to see if there were two Technoblades in the kitchen or just two people with pink hair. As soon as they're up in their bedroom, Tubbo sits Tommy down with a clearly disappointed look.

"My sister saw you at the race last night, and my cousins did too." Tubbo crosses his arms, "You got in an accident."

"Yeah?" Tommy responded a bit later than usual and Tubbo grits his teeth.

"You dumbass! You probably got hurt!"

"It was just a small crash—" Tommy tried to reason but Tubbo raised his voice a cut him off, making Tommy's headache stronger. He blinked a few times, staring up at Tubbo with a clear dazed expression as the boy ranted on,

"The car broke a window and a smashed in the back passenger door of Dream's car. The glass fell and scratched your arm, I know that because my sister told me. The other car, which was driven by some kid no one met before, had a smashed headlight and something in the engine popped. He had to be towed home. Tommy, that's serious!"

Tommy paused, letting a spike of a headache and the black spots that danced across his vision subside before he spoke, "you're being stupid, Tubbo."

"did you hit your head? Wilbur told me about you passing out this morning." Tubbo ignored the insult, knowing Tommy wasn't thinking clearly.

Tommy blinked, rubbing at his eyes as he lost his balance on the bed. He fell on his side and shrugged at Tubbo, muttering bitterly, "...I don't think I did? It doesn't matter anyway, why are you here?"

"Your birthday party..?" This concerned Tubbo the most. How would Tommy forget something like this..?

"It's my birthday?"

"Well, It's a late party."

"I didn't know we were having a party—" Tommy says, but Tubbo cuts him off.

"—Yes you did, you called me last night at like... five and told me to come."

"I did?"

Three knocks ring out.

"Come in?" Tommy says and Philza cracks open the door enough to peer in.

"Dinner is ready if you two are done bickering up here." He grins with a small smile and Tommy nods going to stand. Philza shuts the door but immediately swings it back open as he hears a loud thump and a scream of fear from Tubbo.

"What the hell?!" Philza shouts, rushing over. He kneels beside Tommy and presses his fingers to his neck, feeling his pulse.

"Wh—he just passed out!" Tubbo explains nervously, holding Tommy's collapsed body in his lap. There are four sets of footsteps as four older teenagers clamber up the stairs to see what's going on. Wilbur is the first in the door and he immediately notes how dazed Tommy looks even as he's asleep.

"Maybe he's sick? That would explain the headache, the tiredness, and the whole dizziness tripping thing that happened earlier?" Wilbur leaned down to help Philza move Tommy onto his own bed as the boy started to wake up again.

"His nose always gets really red when he's sick though." Technoblade comments, leaning on the wall with Tubbo's cousins. A pink-haired girl reaching a hand out to Tubbo, who comes over and sticks to her side.

"Niki, maybe we should go." A deeper voice says, leaning over and she shakes her head.

"Tommy's like a brother to Tubbo, Eret, we can't just dip out." She sighs and the taller boy nods, leaning on the wall behind her.

As Tommy blearily sat up and groaned, Tubbo gree impatient and shouted across the room from Niki's side, "Tommy if you're hurt because hit your head last night, I'm going to kill you!"

"Last night?" Philza tilted his head, "did you fall last night, Tommy? Falling so much is really bad for you, maybe we should--"

"No! I mean, it's fine, I— I feel when I was—"

"Tommy." Tubbo crosses his arms, sending him a look.

"No Tubbo—" Tommy starts and is immediately cut off as Tubbo crosses the room, throwing his hands up angrily.

"Are you gonna admit to it or not, Tommy?!" 

The room fell into an awkward silence. Niki and Eret stepping into the hallway, awkwardly motioning for the rest of the people who had shown up to just go sit in the living room and wait. This wasn't anyone's business besides the families, they didn't need many people listening in on them.

Tommy's silence enraged Tubbo, who felt he had been trying to do the best for his friend, so he tapped Philza's shoulder and spoke sharply, "He snuck out, went racing again. He won't tell you because he's scared you throw him out just like every other foster parent has."

"I—" Philza doesn't even know what to say as he looks over at Tommy's body. He's shaking and leaning against Wilbur who holds his upper body in his arms.

"We need to get him to a doctor, Dad."


	5. Oooh, I’m Blinded by the Lights, Please Shut Them Off.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy goes to the hopsital and Philza finally talks to him.

Wilbur was tired. They'd been in this too-bright room for an hour, nurses occasionally slipping in and ensuring them someone was on their way to see Tommy. He curled his hair in the boy's hair and quietly held him in his arms, the sunglasses Tommy now had put on to combat the light smashed against his sweater.

"You still awake, Toms? Nurses said you can't sleep until they get this checked out." Wilbur murmurs and Tommy groans. So, that's a yes.

"It hurts Wilby..." Tommy whines and the older boy nods.

"I know. Remember when I was in that car accident the week you got here and I had that concussion?"

"Mhm."

"I should've known you had one too, god, I really wish I'd remembered how it hurt but everything from then is a blur. I remember being in the car with Dad and passing out—" Wilbur pauses to laugh, "and I remember him freaking out because he thought I was gonna die."

"I wish he worried that much about me..." Tommy slurs and Wilbur sighs.

"He does, Tommy. He just hasn't been able to tell you why he's been working so much this past year." Wilbur muses, kissing the side of Tommy's head. The blonde whines and blubbers something Wilbur doesn't understand, but he can feel the wet tears on his sweater.

There are three knocks on the door and a woman pokes her head in with a soft smile, "hello? This is Thomas, correct?"

"Yeah." Wilbur nudges Tommy into a seated position and the boy quickly wipes under his face. The woman gives him a sympathetic smile as she sets the clipboard down after quickly scanning through it.

"I'm Doctor Judith, sorry the wait has taken so long, there was a load of ER patients we had to deal with." She smiles, "and who's who?"

"Oh, that's Tommy, and I'm Wilbur, his older brother," Wilbur says and she nods.

"Okay! Good, just making sure. Tommy, you're here because you passed out and have been showing signs of a possible brain injury." The doctor says softly, looking down at her clipboard, "so we're gonna do some simple tests, checking your reaction time, your pupils, etcetera."

"Okay," Tommy murmured.

"But first, can you tell me anything about when the head trauma first occurred? I heard you had possibly two incidents, and it's going to be easier for me to gauge what's going on if I know how severe it may be," Doctor Judith's smile is warm, Tommy decides. Plus, with Wilbur's hand sturdily rubbing his back, he feels safe enough to speak.

"I was in a small car accident last night... I was in the passenger seat and the door behind me was hit. I don't remember hitting my head or anything and I felt fine when I got home maybe... an hour later, and I slept. I woke up this morning and had a bad headache and I was kinda spaced out and dizzy. I figured I was just dehydrated so I went downstairs to get breakfast, I think, and I fell down the last few stairs after getting super dizzy."

"Wilbur, were you present for both?" The doctor asks and Wilbur shakes his head.

"No, I was only present when he fell down the stairs." Wilbur states calmly and she nods.

There's a click as she grabs a pen and begins writing something down, "Did he have clear disorientation before or after falling?"

"He stated he was tired, was dizzy, disoriented, and partially unconscious." Wilbur glances towards Tommy, who's completely zoned out. Across from them, the door clicked open and Philza stepped in, setting down a clipboard by the doctors. Wilbur nudged Tommy to a sitting position as Doctor Judith grabbed a small flashlight type object and smiled at him. Using one hand to hold his face steady, she dimmed the lights and shone a flashlight in Tommy's eyes. After a few seconds, she hummed and nodded,

"Definitely not the same size, I'll sign him up for a CT scan." She looks back and Philza and somethings connect in her mind, but she doesn't say anything at the moment.

"Okay, Thomas? I'm gonna ask you to follow my finger with your eyes, okay?" She holds up one hand as she looks back to Tommy as he nods. She pulls it side to side and up and down a few times with a quizzical glare towards Tommy. She puts her hand down and Tommy blinks slowly, rubbing at his head to try and subdue the pain from focusing.

"Okay. Reaction times are slow, he's clearly dazed, his pupils are different sizes, he's reported nausea, headaches, dizziness, and severe fatigue." Doctor Judith looks over at Philza, "is there something with you and your boys getting concussed?"

He laughs softly and shrugs, "bad luck?"

"Maybe the luck is hereditary." She chuckles, nodding as she grabs the clipboard, "I'll sign him up for a CT scan, and then we'll go from there! I'll keep the lights dimmed for him, so he doesn't have to wear the sunglasses."

The doctor exits the room with a sweep of her white coat and Tommy watches as the doctor calls Philza out to talk to him about something.

"Wilbur, I feel so shitty for sneaking out." Tommy murmurs and Wilbur nods.

"It's okay... I think dads only worried you got in an accident." Wilbur says softly, "I mean, we were just here a few weeks ago for Technoblade."

"He rolled his car! We only got hit." Tommy sighs.

"Yeah, but Dad still sees it just as bad, plus, Techno's not the only person in the family who's gotten in a drag racing accident." Wilbur's face flushes when he realizes what he's said. Before Tommy can ask what he means, a nurse comes in to recheck his vitals.

In the hall, Technoblade leans against the wall as he watches the same doctor that had operated on his wound from his accident spoke to Philza. Tubbo was reasonably upset, and Niki sat with her arm around him while Eret had left to go to work and tell the manager of the cafe Tommy was in the hospital. When he glanced towards them, Niki caught his eye and he sent her a small smile.

"I feel so bad for Tommy." She murmured, "I wish I'd been able to stop him from going out,"

"It's not your fault, Niki. None of us knew it was gonna happen." Techno says and Tubbo speaks up softly,

"I did. Or I had a feeling he would. He told me he wasn't feeling like he fit in at your house, that you all already have life plans and he's just some extra kid tagging along and 'draining your money.' He's gonna start being reckless because he thinks you'll kick him out anyway." Tubbo explains softly, waving his hands a bit as he speaks, "but I know you won't kick him out because you guys are too nice."

Philza watches as Tubbo speaks, his conversation with the nurses fading in his mind. They knew Tommy by his first name, said he was a regular growing up. He came in for broken bones, passing out, among other things. Doctor Judith had said they expected no parents to be with him, as it had usually been. Philza had been livid. And hearing Tubbo say Tommy was expecting to get kicked out? It pissed him off even more.

"But why did he go with Dream?" Techno pinches his nose in anger, "why didn't he tell us?"

"Because Dream talks to him all the time when they work at the Cafe." Tubbo says softly, "they made some sort of bond."

"Hey, Niki?" Wilbur pops his head out of the room, "Can you call Dream? They need to ask him how bad the accident was."

Philza's stomach twisted.

* * *

"I can't believe your mom took your license!" Sapnap laughed as Dream slipped into his passenger seat, George snickers from the backseat as he works on something on his laptop.

"Does she really think that's gonna stop me, man? She caught me at a race... man." Dream sighed, "but she's making me pick up double shifts at the cafe."

"Damn. Hey, at least we can come in and bother you more now!" Sapnap grins and as Dream laughs, his phone buzzes on his lap. His green eyes glance down and he nudges it over with one painted fingernail.

'PINKY'

"Why the hell is Niki calling me?" He grumbles, grabbing Sapnap's steering wheel to turn the music down since his radio's knob had been broken for years.

"Hey, Nihachu!" He forces a grin into his voice.

"Tommy's in the hospital."

"Tommy's what?"

Niki groans on the line and he can hear her snap at someone else before her voice returns to the speaker, "He must've hit his head in the accident last night, he's in the hospital because he basically blacked out _twice_ today."

"Holy shit. Is he okay?" Dream waves at Sapnap to pull over and the Texan obliges.

"No dumbass! Why do you think I'm calling you!" Niki snaps, "The doctors need to hear from you how bad it was, okay?"

"Okay. We'll be there soon." He hangs up and throws his head back in anguish, "Tommy's in the hospital and they need my statement since I was in the car with him."

Sapnap nods in silence and pulls the car out of its pulled over position, George slips his laptop shut and slides it into his bag as Sapnap pulls a u-turn in the middle of the freeway and floors it in the opposite direction towards the hotel. Once they arrive, Dream tells them to drop him off at the front door and he slams the door shut as he stands on the concrete outside the building. 

He can't dodge this conversation.

After a nurse gives him directions, Dream lets his combat boots squeak against the recently cleaned tiles as he passes down the halls. Various patients murmur complaints or praises to family and nurses, he passes newborn twins being carried by their mother and a little girl who broke her leg playing with her friends. He turns down a hall in the emergency wing and spots a familiar head of pink hair. As he approaches, one specifically loud squeak causes a curly-haired boy to shoot his glare up at him. Before Wilbur can even move, Technoblade holds him back against the wall with a glare at his brother.

"Who do I need to speak with?" Dream says flatly, not wanting to start an argument.

"Doctor Judith, when she gets back," Niki says as she feels Tubbo tense beneath her grip.

"Why!" The boy suddenly shouts after a beat of silence, ripping himself off his chair and approaching Dream. Even as Niki tries to grab him, he rips her hold on his arms as tears prick in his eyes, "you're a college student, aren't you supposed to have actual common sense? Why would you let him go!"

"Tubbo, please." Niki stands, pulling the boy back against her chest. He whines and nuzzles into her and clutches her hoodie.

"Is everything alright over here?" The grey-haired doctor reappears and Techno speaks up, 

"Dream is here for questions." He says monotonously as usual. 

"Oh good." She grins, "Philza and Thomas are in the room and they requested privacy, so we'll wait until one of them comes out and say it's alright."

* * *

Philza had never had a harder conversation. It had been just as hard for him to explain to Techno and Wilbur what had happened to him all those years ago, but Tommy was unique. He knew that even if he told Tommy, not bothering a single gory detail, the boy would still race.

He just wanted to be honest with his youngest son for once since he'd come into the house.

"How're you feelin' Toms?" He asked, brushing blonde hair back. The boy shrugged, partially leaning into the touch.

"Better." He muses, the dark, quiet room probably did wonders for him, Philza thinks.

"I wanna talk with you, okay? You don't need to say anything." He says softly, tilting his head towards Tommy, who nods.

"When I was around your age, maybe younger, actually, I started drag racing. Oh, don't give me that look, that roads have been around forever! I was one of the bed racers back then, along with my friend, we won almost every race. It lasted maybe a year or so until I got in an accident. A deer ran onto the road and I swerved to avoid it and I turned my car sideways and flipped it. I slid on the driver's door for maybe... a hundred feet or so?" He sighs, "You know those two scars I have on my back? The ones by my shoulders?"

Tommy laughs softly, "Mhm... I remember last summer when I asked you about them you said it where your wings came from."

"Yeah..." Philza chuckled and sighed, his face darkening again as he went back into serious mode, "I broke my ribs, completely shattered my left leg, and was cut up really bad from my broken window. The metal bars in my seat ripped out somehow and stabbed me, god, that hurt so bad when Jordan pulled me out of the car. I just remember looking up and all I could see was a tree; it was probably four inches from crushing my head."

"Holy shit," Tommy whispered. Philza didn't tell him to watch his mouth.

"I don't tell you to stop racing because it's illegal, Tommy, because that would be hypocritical of me." He sighs as he quickly runs a hand through his hair, his hat long discarded, "I tell you that because I've seen and felt the consequences of it. Do I really care, not particularly? Even though you shouldn't do something that will get you thrown in prison and ruin your future, but just... if you really want to go, be careful. There are ways to get into legal races, you can rent tracks, you guys just don't know all that."

"Maybe if we did we wouldn't do what we do." Tommy mused and Philza hummed. 

"Also, I'm sorry about missing your birthday. I've been trying to work as much as I can so I could save up for something I was working towards." He explains, "Your room is really too tiny, and Techno needs a proper room when he comes back from university... so, I've actually bought a new home. It's actually just down the road from your school, the cafe, and Tubbo's house. So you'll be close to everyone, we'll be closer to Techno's university, and Wilbur will be close to his job."

"Wait, really? You bought a new house and you're gonna bring me with you?" Tommy grins and Philza laughs.

"Of course I am, Toms! You're one of my kids, I would never leave you, okay?" And despite his happy grin, there's an underlying seriousness to the statement Tommy feels in his chest. Before he could reply, there were three knocks at the door. He told them to come in, using a soft voice as to not hurt Tommy more. The door creaked open, Doctor Judith nodding to them.

"Dream is here to answer our questions," She opens the door fully and Dream follows her into the room. He can't even look at Tommy with the guilt that pools in his stomach.

"So, can you tell us about the accident?" The doctor grabs her clipboard and Dream gulps.

"We were driving pretty slow, probably about twenty to thirty miles per hour. We were both shouting and joking around so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should've been, sorry, and someone came up next to us faster than I could dodge them. They hit the backdoor at about fifty miles per hour and they broke in the back passenger side door and broke the window. We slid but stayed on the road and the glass flew up into Tommy's seat and cut his arm. I didn't see if he hit his head or anything but he seemed slightly dazed as I pulled him out of the car." Dream sighs, "and I'm so so sorry Mr. Minecraft, for everything I've caused."

"It's alright, Dream." Philza sighs, "I'm not angry with anyone, and it's not your fault. That damn road is too thin."

Dream looks confused but a nurse pops her head in and says it's time for Tommy's CT scan. Visiting hours end shortly after, Philza, Wilbur, and Techno staying since they're family and they haven't gotten a clear answer yet. Tubbo goes home after a bit of arguing with Wilbur, who promises to call him the second they know what happened with Tommy. Dream goes out with Sapnap and George, his mind preoccupied with Tommy even though he knows it'll likely be hours before they can figure out what's wrong.

They keep him overnight and early in the morning, about seven, they declare it's just a concussion and he can go home soon. When they go to pick up Tommy, Wilbur stays back to set up a big blanket pile in the living room for a movie day with Tubbo and everyone else who wishes to come.

Tommy feels very loved that day.


	6. Why do People Not Know How to Keep Their Mouths SHUT.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Tubbo run into some trouble. But Philza's a good dad in this story, unlike canon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! tw for blood and fighting !!!

Tommy's leg bounced as Tubbo sat next to him, it was another week where Tubbo's dad had a business meeting in a far off town, so they'd been going home and coming to school together every day this week. It was the Friday before winter break and as they sat, waiting for the busses, he could feel someone staring into his shoulder. He whipped around to see some random senior he'd seen hanging around Dream before, though Dream had warned him to steer clear of the guy.

"Yo, you're Philza's kid, ain'tcha?" The guy sneered and Tubbo hummed something under his breath, a warning to Tommy to stay quiet. So Tommy simply turned back around, pretending he didn't think the senior was talking to him and yanked out his phone. Just in case he needed to send an emergency message.

"Yo! Blondie, I'm talking' to you!" The guy is now in front of him, dangerously close, and Tommy doesn't really have a choice but to acknowledge him.

"What?" Tommy sneers, standing up. Their almost chest to chest, and it makes Tommy feel sick. The guy backs up and Tubbo clicks his phone off, staring at the interaction between the two with a certain edge in his eyes.

"I asked if you were Philza's kid." The guy snaps and out of the corner of his eye, Tommy can see George and Sapnap shoving through the crowd.

Oh shit.

"Yeah, why?" Tommy crosses his arms, trying to appear unbothered. 

"So you're related to Techno and Wilbur then?" He says, grinning. Tubbo slips his phone in his back pocket as he stands up.

"Yeah." Tommy snaps and he doesn't have a second to breathe before something collides with his jaw. Out of shock, he stumbles back, nearly tripping on the bench. Before he can go to block another hit, Tubbo throws himself into the side of the attacker, sending them both down onto the pavement. The two tussle a bit before Tommy finally kicks into gear and grabs Tubbos arm and yanks him away from the fight. At this point, Sapnap is kicking the random guy away and shouting at him while George helps Tubbo and Tommy into the backseat of his car.

Then it's quiet. George stays outside, his grip is white-knuckled as he keeps one hand on the driver's side door handle. Sapnap comes stumbling out of the lot with a wipe to his nose and hightails it to George's car. They both throw themselves in the car and before George an even buckle, they're pulling out of the lot.

"I didn't think he'd actually start shit!" Sapnap whines, buckling in as he attempts to wipe his bloody nose.

"Why did he even--"

"Dream, because he can't keep his fuckin' mouth shut, told some people about his fight with Wilbur. Now, kids are gonna take it out on you two." Sapnap rambles, moving his hands as George searches in the center console for a tissue while they sit at a red light.

"Just let one of us drive you home for a few weeks until it simmers down. They're just being stupid." George says softly, handing Sapnap a tissue finally and clicking the console shut as the light turns green.

"O-Okay," Tubbo says before Tommy can and now that the shaky-handed adrenaline has worn off, Tommy can feel his head pounding. He wondered if the hit to the jaw had messed with his barely healed concussion.

"Philza's not home." Tommy says, "so you don't have to worry about parking around the block."

"Alright," George says. There's maybe five more minutes of quiet before the pull up to Tommy's new house and the doors unlock. Sapnap tells them to have a good break while George just waves and Tommy basically tugs Tubbo out of the car and into the house. Once they determine the house is empty, Tommy turns back to Tubbo and curses. The whole front side of his striped sweater is stained with blood, dripping from his nose.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Tommy grabs Tubbo's wrist after they discard their bags by the front door and he runs downstairs into his basement room with him. Their sets of socked feet cause static to charge as they slide into Tommy's room and deposit their bags.

"I didn't notice until we got in the house," Tubbo admits as Tommy hands him a hoodie from his closet before quickly rushing across the room and into the attached bathroom to grab a black towel to wipe up the blood with. Tubbo takes the time to change into the hoodie, holding his ruined sweater in his hand. Tommy takes it and hands Tubbo the towel.

"Clean yourself up, I'm gonna go try and save this." Tommy quickly makes his way upstairs and into the tiny bathroom they'd put the washer and dryer in. He throws the sweater in the wash on a cold wash cycle with enough detergent to make suds before the spin cycle had even started. Running as fast as he can on the wooden floors in the home, Tommy comes back into his room and sighs at the sight of Tubbo still standing upright and seemingly okay. Without much care, Tubbo tosses the dirty towel in his laundry and kneels in front of Tommy's bed as the older boy falls back onto his bed.

Tommy's eyes stare into his ceiling as he says, “You didn’t have to do that."

“I know.” Tubbo smiles, happily taking an ice pack and some tissues from a first-aid kit Tommy has under his bed, “but, I technically pinned them down, so it’s a win for me!”

“You got a nose bleed, dickhead!” Tommy’s almost in disbelief, but a glance at Tubbo’s happy grin grounds him again. This is his best friend who willingly throws himself (quite literally) into danger when need be. His best friend since he was five, who'd never left his side and always found a way to talk to Tommy despite how often he'd moved around while they grew up. His thoughts are interrupted when Tubbo gets up from his kneeling position and blots under his nose for a few seconds with the tissues he'd found before pressing the ice pack to his face.

His eyes narrow at the pain but he just says, “at least Philza’s not home.”

“God, he’s gonna be pissed if the school calls him.” and unlike any other time this has happened, Tommy’s voice is laced with laughter and not dread.

"Who cares, we won that fight!" Tubbo cheers, sitting down beside Tommy in his mostly barren room and Tommy can't help the laughter that bubbles out of his throat.

"How's your concussion doing?" Tubbo asks, "Is it still bothering you even after you've technically been 'healed' or whatever?"

"It only hurts if I hit it on something, like when I banged it on my desk last night. And getting hit in the jaw certainly didn't help." Tommy groans and Tubbo nods, as they hear the door unlock. They both freeze up and listen to the footsteps above them.

"Philza," Tommy whispers, cursing to himself.

"I'm sure it's fine!" Tubbo grins, reassuring his friend by patting his back,

"Tommy, Tubbo? Are you two home?" Philza calls from the stairs, not coming down into the room as to not invade Tommy's privacy. Tommy likes that, no one else had ever done that.

"Yeah!" Tubbo shouts a bit nasally.

"Okay! I'm going to order out, the usual for you two?" It was Friday, which meant Chinese food or Italian food depending on which job Wilbur was working that week.

"Yep!" They both shout and Philza yells back an 'okay!' before the door shuts again.

The two sit quietly before Tubbo grabs Tommy's remote and turns on his TV to some random Netflix show the two had watched a hundred times before. He turns to Tommy and motions to the boxes in the back corner of the room, "Wanna unpack?"

\--

Paint caked on his hands as Tommy sat back against the newly dried red wall in his bedroom. Philza had moved his family into a bigger home. Tommy loved the house to death and luckily had been given the basement as his room, so not only did he have a big room all to himself, he also had his own bathroom. Wilbur was upstairs and only had to share a bathroom when Tubbo, Techno, or another guest was over. The living room was huge, with big windows and skylights, and the kitchen matched the grand look. It was a huge home and Tommy loved it to bits. 

Mostly because it was the first time he'd been brought along when a family had moved.

"I think it looks nice," Tubbo said, sitting beside him and handing him a water bottle. There is a bruise that's beginning to darken the lines under his eye that makes Tommy huff with anger. Stupid high school seniors.

"Me too." Tommy grins, "It feels like it's... mine."

"Tommy! Tubbo! Dinner!" Wilbur shouts and Tommy grins, getting up and helping Tubbo to his feet. Neither of them thinks about their bruises or the dried, flaky blood on the side of Tubbo's mouth. They clamber up the stairs, pushing and laughing as they slide around into the kitchen. Wilbur goes to say something but is cut off by a sharp inhale, his own bruises from his fight had finally all vanished, and now his brother had one on his jaw and Tubbo looked like he got thoroughly beat.

"What happened to you two!?" Philza's shocked, trying to force the anger in his voice down. He's not mad at them, he can't be, but by how Tommy immediately goes silent he feels like he'd already re-burnt the bridge he'd just rebuilt.

"Someone hit Tommy, so I hit him back, and then he hit me in the nose. But it's okay! George and Sapnap got us home safely!" Tubbo says, instinctively wrapping his fingers around Tommy's sleeve.

"Why didn't you call me?" Wilbur asks, gently.

"They were kinda already there and they knew it was gonna happen so--"

Philza cuts Tubbo off, "They knew someone was going to fight you and they didn't warn you?"

"Well, Sapnap said that Dream told some people about his fight with Wilbur so people are gonna try and get back at Wilbur through Tommy and I. Which is stupid if you ask me," Tubbo states, crossing his arms as Tommy calms beside him. H realizes now that they aren't angry, they're worried and even though he feels like a burden for upsetting them, it's better than angering them. 

Wilbur goes to say something but falls silent. His eyes are dull, distant, and distracted. Anyone who looked closer would be able to see a steady, unflickering flame that grew brighter and brighter as his grip on his food white-knuckled. Philza simply nods, sliding their food across the table. There are a few seconds of awkward silence as Wilbur passes by them to go upstairs, Philza taking care of putting the bags away. Tubbo grabs his food and tugs Tommy's sleeve, telling him to follow, but the younger boy shakes his head. With a shrug, Tubbo quickly leaves and goes downstairs, figuring he needs some space.

"I-I'm sorry." Tommy whispers and Philza turns sharply, a shocked look on his face. Tommy's face is completely unreadable and his father knows he does that to protect himself. 

"You didn't do anything wrong, Tommy." He finally says, setting his food container down, "Don't blame yourself."

"B-but--"

"No. Enough, Tommy. You didn't do anything wrong, you've made mistakes in the past, but everyone else has been blowing your minuscule mistakes into gigantic ones. You snuck out, that's such a tiny mistake. Wilbur got in a fight over it, that's bigger. Dream telling people? That's even bigger. This random kid fighting you? That's uncalled for and a gigantic mistake." Philza walks around the table so he's in front of Tommy. Even if he has to look up at him (why did all his sons grow to be taller than him.)

Tommy sniffles, looking away to wipe his face before he nods and grabs his food. Philza rubs his shoulder and ruffles his hair. In his soft chuckle at Tommy's watery grin, he nearly misses it. 

"Thanks, dad." The soft mumble leaves Tommy's lips and causes him to lock up and grow red, it's soft, and Philza's glad he doesn't miss it. Either because of embarrassment or fear, Tommy quickly goes into the hall and down the stairs to his room. Leaving a dumbfounded Philza behind him. The food on the counter growing cold as his mind replays the moment over and over.

_Tommy had called him dad._


	7. Merry Christmas We're Buying EVERYTHING... Apparently.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Techno and Wilbur get some news from Philza while Tommy and Tubbo decide to get some presents and Tommy has to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun family not-really-angst time :]!
> 
> (reminder that if you like this and have tumblr, come lemme know on my account: @arson-lst >:3!!)

"You're gonna let me handle this." The voice spoke from behind him. A cup of coffee set down as the figure began to pull their hair up into a bun or something similar.

"But it's my fault, Techno." The older boy says, swirling his spoon in his drink, mixing it all. The pink-haired guy beside him chuckles and leans on the kitchen island, taking his coffee in one hand.

"But you're reckless, and Dad still hasn't given you your car keys back yet." Techno smiles at his brother, flicking his shoulder, "Wilbur, it's also Dream's fault for bringing them there and blabbing about it."

"But I didn't have to fight him, everyone’s made that obvious." Wilbur groans, running a hand through his hair, "that was such a stupid thing to do."

"Mhm. It was stupid but... it was in character for you. Dad wouldn't have been upset with you if you hadn't broken his nose." Techno snorts and Wilbur bursts into a laugh.

"Fucker deserves it for all the shit he's done." Wilbur shrugs and his brother nods in a silent agreement. It's late, around 3 am, two days before Christmas. Tubbo and Tommy are over to Tubbo's house to celebrate his birthday and an early Christmas with Tubbo's family. Apparently, they'd done it every year, not that the older two would've known. They'd met Tommy in late December of last year.

"Unrelated, Wil, where's dad?" Techno asks and as if the universe heard him, the front door unlocks. It's way too late for Philza to be coming home, Techno thinks to himself as his hand slides across the counter towards the knives. There's a stumble and a thump before the foyer light flicks on and Philza appears in the hallway. 

Technoblade slides the steak knife back into the knife block.

"Dad? Why are you home so late?" Wilbur asks at the same time Philza asks, "boys? Why are you up so early?"

"Worked on my car." Techno replies, "gotta remount the engine somehow. Where were you?"

"Work. I can't get a day off there." He sighs and Wilbur clicks his tongue, taking a sip of his coffee before he says,

"But all the office jobs have shut down for Christmas. It's the 23rd." Wilbur looks at his father who stammers and then sighs.

"It was work-related, but it wasn't mandatory." He says, putting his coat in the hall closet. 

"So...?"

"The company bought a track and I went to look at it." He says, dropping it like it's a bomb. Techno shrugs with uninterest and Philza tried again,

"A race track. With drag strips and an oval track. It's got seats for viewers. The roads need to be repaved but the township said they'd help as long as we get you all off that back road." He grins as the boys stare at him with shock, "and the mayor and my boss said you guys can race and practice there, free of charge."

"Holy _shit_ , Dad."

* * *

Christmas rolls around and Tommy finds himself wondering the isles of the local Dollar Tree with Tubbo beside him. It's Christmas Eve and Tommy still hasn't gotten anyone anything.

"You should buy Wilbur these crappy guitar picks." Tubbo holds up a plastic container and chuckles, "they literally suck. They break so easy."

"I have some guitar picks I stole from you in my bag I was gonna give him." Tommy laughs and Tubbo pushes him as he puts the picks back.

"What the hell do I get for Techno though? Gasoline?" He states with a laugh and Tubbo shrugs.

"Money goes a far way, maybe Visa or Master Card gift cards?" Tubbo suggests again and Tommy sighs, "but then it's not like I'm actually trying to get them something, Tubbo."

"They'd appreciate cards from you. Even something small like that." The brunette shrugs and walks down one of the isles before pausing and chuckling to himself, "hey isn't this the car Wilbur wanted in high school? I don't remember if this is the exact one but it looks like it."

"A car? Tubbo that's a wall."

"Matchbox Cars, dumbass." Tubbo flips him off and Tommy rolls his eyes as he walks over and looks at the car.

"It's a Ford..?" Tubbo hands the little matchbox car over and Tommy's face lights up.

"This is it. And hand me the pink one.

"Why the pink one..?" Tubbo hands it over anyway, not really caring.

"Technoblade, duh. I'm gonna make them mini-versions of their drag cars." Tommy grins.

"So we've got Wilbur and Techno... what about Philza?" Tubbo puts the toy cars in their basket and Tommy sighs.

"I have no idea." Tommy groans, “maybe I’ll get him a coffee mug or something, that’s a normal dad gift.”

“I’d try to help you but I bought my dad throwing knives for Christmas…. soo..” Tubbo chuckles.

“Your dad is fuckin’ weird.” Tommy laughs as he walks into the candy aisle and plucks out a bag of random candies.

“I’m not buying you junk food, I’m buying you Christmas presents,” Tubbo complains but Tommy shakes his head.

“These are my Christmas presents, dickhead. Philza likes these candies but never goes anywhere where he can find them.” Tommy reads the label twice to make sure he has the right ones. Tubbo murmurs, “how the hell did you remember that?”

“I remember important things.” The taller boy shrugs and checks his stuff, “I think I have everything?”

“I do.” Tubbo grins.

* * *

They hid in the basement, shoulder to shoulder as they murmured about what to do. Techno’s car was made by Tubbo meticulously writing the letter ‘T’ in black paint (after Tommy sketched it twice and assured that’s what the letter looked like,) Wilbur’s car didn’t need to be painted but they made the packaging fully black and attached a little ribbon to it. Philza’s was the easiest, they grabbed an old birthday bag, painted it green, three the candy inside, and stuffed it full of those fancy bag papers.

Tubbo had bought Niki some sort of candy she liked and a visa gift card so she could buy some art program she wanted. Eret had been asking for new shoes or sunglasses, so obviously, Tommy and Tubbo went out of their way to find the best pair of shoes (with Niki’s help.) 

It was about five-thirty when Tommy’s “get ready for work” alarm went off and he quickly threw on black jeans and a pale blue polo shirt he had to wear for work at the local cafe. Wilbur usually drove him, but with Tubbo getting his license that day, the younger brunette offered to drive him there. Plus, no one besides them was home, Techno and Wilbur were at some holiday party with Jschlatt, and Philza had another hour until he came home from work, so it worked out in the end.

Plus, Tubbo just wanted to drive.

By the time they arrived snow had started to fall, and Tubbo waved goodbye as Tommy went through the back door. Usually, Tubbo would come in the front and eat something, but he had to get home before the weather worsened. The heat from inside the kitchen warmed him to the bone as he slipped off his jacket and threw on his work apron.

“Hey! Sam!” Tommy cheered as the tall brunette used his body to push open the kitchen door.

“Tommy! Can you help me with these dishes?” The older man asked and Tommy nodded enthusiastically, grabbing some of the dishes out of Sam’s hands so he could walk without being terrified of breaking a plate.

“Dream told me you were coming today, but I didn’t believe him. I thought your dad would’ve had you take off.” Sam set the plates in the sink after Tommy did and the blonde shrugged.

“I wanted to get some extra holiday money, candy goes on sale cheap after New Years.” The younger boy grinned and Sam laughed.

“Smart play. I’m off for the night but I’m hanging around here, shout if you need something, okay?” Sam ruffles his hair and grins as he passes back into the staff room.

“Alright!” Tommy grinned and thus, the workday begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, never hesitate to leave to comment! I love reading any comments :]!!


	8. Work Work Work Work— Oh Shit Dadza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy has to go to work, Dream has a chat, and Christmas is literally the next day.

Tommy’s hands felt gross from the time they’d spent submerged in water. Even with the little track for quickly washing and disinfecting plates, he still had to hand wash more delicate pieces like the fancy tea cups old couples always liked to use. Plus, all the Christmas dishes were super fragile, so he had to be extra careful.

But, about an hour into his work, a newer hire, a tall boy with half and half dyed hair (that definitely wasn’t done in the sink Tommy was currently dunking spoons in), lovingly nicknamed Ranboo, came in to take over. He liked being in the back most days, so Tommy didn’t mind the relief. The big chatted about some school work, since they shared an Algebra class, before Sam came back and told Tommy that Dream needed him upfront. With a wave goodbye to Ranboo, Tommy made his way to the front, stopping to grab candy from one of the older women who ran the little bar inside the cafe.

“Hey Big T!” Dream shouted, grinning.

“Hey Dream! Sam Nook back there told me you asked for me?” Tommy leaned on the counter and Dream nodded, mixing some sort of tea.

“Yeah! I was wondering if you were busy over the break? Sapnap and I got a new car to start building up again.” Dream says as he hands the drink to a woman who grins and thanks him before handing it to her son. 

Tommy wished he’d had moments like that growing up.

“I-uhm—“ Tommy yanks himself out of his thoughts, “I might be? I don’t know. I know Tubbo and I are having a movie night on New Years Eve but I don’t know about the days between Christmas and then.”

“Well, if you are, and your brothers won’t make you stay home, you should come stop by. I know it’s kinda out of the way but I could always bring you home after work.” Dream shrugs, “it wouldn’t be too much for me.”

Philza’s warning of racing rings through Tommy’s head, but he stutters out, “I’ll think about it.”

“Anyway, besides that, see any hot girls my age here?” Dream smirks and Tommy cackles, shoving him aside.

“Ew! You’re so gross. They’d be all over me anyway.” Tommy sticks his tongue out and the older boy wheezes, smacking the counter.

“You’re so lanky dude, come on!” The older boy teases, punching Tommy’s arm. A woman, Dream’s aunt who owns the cafe, clears her throat and nods and motions to a few uncleaned tables. Tommy stammers an apology before punching Dream’s shoulder before he begins to bring all the dishes back into the kitchen. It takes a few trips and some help from Sam, but he manages to do it. He stays back to help Ranboo, and doesn’t notice as a familiar face steps through the front door.

“T, isn’t it the end of your shift?” Sapnap shouts from wherever the hell he’d come from.

“Yeah, but Wilbur’s getting me and he’s usually late so I’m gonna help Ranboo really quick.” He explained and Sapnap nodded.

“Alright.”

* * *

  
Dream kneeled down, grabbing a soda from under the counter in a mini fridge and popping it open with his thumb as he stood back up. His eyes trained on the mug as he slowly poured the sweet tasting soda in to meet the cherry flavoring that rested in the bottom. Drista always asked him to bring her a strawberry cupcake and a Shirley Temple. Tonight, he planned to grab a fresh strawberry cake from his aunt for his sister's early Christmas gift.

“Hey, Dream.” A deeper voice said from over the counter and Dream glanced over. At the sight of Philza leaning on the counter his breath hitched and his palms instantly got sweaty. He hated confrontation regardless of who it was, but adults were so much worse than anyone his age.

“Ah, hello Mr. Minecraft, Tommy’s in the back cleaning up. I can go back and grab him.” Dream says formally and Philza shakes his head with a soft grin and a gentle gaze, something Dream wasn’t used to,

“No no, it’s alright. I was actually hoping to speak with you. And you don’t have to be so formal, Dream. You can just call me Philza, or be like Tubbo and call me Mr. Philza if you  _ insist _ .” Philza grins with a playful tone, even if Dream can’t recognize it as he tentatively nods.

“Okay, thanks… Mr. Philza.”

“I just.. I guess I wanted to give you a warning? Though that makes it sound really dramatic, I just wanted to… express my concerns. With racing, uhm. Look, Dream, it’s so easy to fuck up. It’s so easy to nearly get yourself killed, I did it back when I was Tommy’s age. I know you all think this is just something fun to do on the sides, but doing it on that road isn’t only illegal but dangerous.” Philza sighs, running a hand down the length of his coat while he thought, “I nearly died, if I’m honest with you Dream, but that's not what I’m here to say. I’m here to say, be careful. Don’t ruin your life, or someone else's because you feel reckless. There’s so many things that are better to do than illegally racing down an old highway that hasn’t been repaved since the sixties, somehow.”

Dream stammers, his hands gripping the ceramic mug in his hands and they begin to shake, “T-Thanks. Uhm, I guess? I-I--”

“--Dad!” Tommy cheers, ramming his body into Philza’s. The older man grins and ruffles Tommy’s hair with a laugh as he embraces his son. Tommy eventually snakes out of Philza’s grip and grins down at his father, making Philza wonder why he’d gotten the tall ones out of all the kids he could’ve picked. Not that he didn’t love his tall, lanky boys. Hugs were awkward sometimes while standing.

“Hey kiddo, Wilbur’s making hot chocolate for movie night tonight and Techno bought Up for you.” He says softly, nudging Tommy’s coat towards him. The teen huffed and lazily slipped his arms in the sleeves as Philza continued, “since it’s your first Christmas with us, we had to make it special.”

“Thanks.” Tommy grins, opting to shove a piece of the slice of pie he’d been given by Sam for the holidays into his mouth as he waved goodbye at Dream. The older boy waved, quickly turning his head to hide the jealousy that laced his face as his hands curled into fists. 

* * *

“Okay! Sit!” Wilbur commands, pointing at the couch. Tommy obeys, sitting back while still in his work uniform. Techno is clicking through a few things, setting his laptop up to connect to the TV. Philza came into the room with bags and set them down at Tommy’s feet. Wilbur took his place next to Tommy on the couch, Techno joining shortly after.

“What is this?” Tommy chuckled as a bag was handed to him.

“Well, every Christmas we always wear matching shirts.” Philza explains softly as Wilbur tears into his bag. Techno is much calmer and Tommy stutters, unsure.

“It’s for you, Tommy.” Philza says with a gentle hand placed on the youngests knee. He tries to hide the tears that threaten to bubble over by looking down and opening the bag. Inside is a mostly white shirt with red sleeves, it doesn’t have anything written on it but has a small ‘TI-M’ printed onto the inner left sleeve. He glances at his brothers to see Wilbur’s has ‘WS-M’ and Techno’s has ‘TBM.’

“Thanks.” Tommy grins down at the shirt and the boys are sent off to change. Tommy takes his time, almost like the shirt is fragile. He brushes it down with his hands as he stares at himself in the reflection of his bedroom mirror and decides this is his favorite shirt. It’s not his first or most expensive gift from Philza, but something about the red and white shirt brings him a sense of calm. Even as the color rages brightly down his arms and up his shoulders. He grins and makes his way upstairs, where Philza is shaking a pan on the stove as he makes what Wilbur calls “The White Mom Popcorn” as Techno finally connects his laptop. Wilbur comes downstairs and grins, wrapping an arm around Tommy as he murmurs,

“Merry first Christmas with us, Toms.”

“Merry first Christmas with me, Wilby.”

“Aw! Did you call me Wilby?”

“Shut up, dickhead!”


	9. Merry Fucking Christmas Bitches!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I finally give us some fluff, even if I also sneak in hurt/comfort.  
> The Minecraft household goes through a lovely Christmas morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CANNOT WRITE ONE PURELY HAPPY CHAPTER I AM SO SORRY  
> anyway classical music Tommy coming in

Tommy’s eyes blink open to a notification from Tubbo, and the numbers above it reading 6:33. He groans as he slowly sits up and rubs his arms as he attempts to warm up. Slowly, he grabs his phone from the nightstand and checks the notification.

‘Merry Crisis’ the message from Tubbo reads and he grins, sending back an identical message he quickly slips on his socks and yawns. Another day, but this time it was Christmas. He turned to the three presents set beneath his bed, where he’d attempted to expertly hide them despite the obvious neon wrapping paper. He heard his door creak open and turned to see Philza pop his head in.

“Ah, you’re awake! Why didn’t cha say so? Come on upstairs.” Philza grins and shuts Tommy’s door. The blonde looks back behind him where the bags and boxes sit and he grins, leaning down to grab them.

When he finally makes it upstairs, the distinct smell of hot chocolate and peppermint hits his nose and pulls him forward. His sock covered feet gently tap on the tile until he walks into the kitchen, where Techno stands in front of the stove.

“Mornin’ Toms!” Wilbur calls from his seat, waving at his brother with a dorky grin.

“Hey, Wilbur,” Tommy says, going to walk into the living room to put his stuff down.

“Tommy, wait!” Wilbur shouts and Tommy immediately brings his hands to his chest.

“Ack, sorry. We stay in the kitchen until dad says the living room is open.” Wilbur explains in a calmer tone and Tommy nods, exhaling sharply.

“Okay, sorry,” Tommy murmurs.

“No being sad or being depressingly apologetic on Christmas.” Techno sets two hot chocolates down, with peppermint and cinnamon sticks tied to the straw with a green ribbon.

“Merry Christmas, drink up.” He grins, turning back to the kettle of hot water he was boiling for two more cups. Philza comes into the kitchen a few seconds later, ruffling his own hair and yawning.

“Is it ready yet?” Wilbur asks with a gleam in his eyes, Tommy idly rocks back and forth. He doesn’t know any of their usual plans. He feels so left out.

“Yep. It’s all good.” The eldest smiles, running a hand through his short hair. Newly cut, Tommy notes. He sips the hot chocolate and it's like liquid heaven, so he pulls the cup close to his face and takes another sip. His eyes nearly miss the slight shift in Philza’s face as he leans on the counter beside Tommy.

“Wait for me to finish with drinks though,” Techno says as he grabs a spoon from the drawer next to his hip.

“You take so long.” Wilbur draws out, smacking his head on the counter. Tommy just giggles from where he’s seated as he takes another sip of his drink.

“Can’t rush perfection.” The pink-haired boy teases as he finishes up the two drinks in his hands. He sets them down with a grin and a soft, “there.”

Philza brings his cup to his face and blows off the top until he deems it cool enough to take a drink. Techno doesn’t even stutter, immediately taking a gulp of the burning hot liquid. The small family makes their way into the living room, which has been donned with more Christmas lights than before. They all sparkle as a small fire heats the room and Tommy feels suddenly relaxed more than usual. Settling on the couch (and being scolded for not using coasters for their drinks) the three sons watch as their father grabs around five gifts for each of them.

“It’s not much this year, considering the house, but I figured I still get you all something.”

“This is plenty.” Wilbur grins, yanking Philza down onto the couch beside him. The father laughs and readjusts his seating before motioning for everyone to open their gifts. Now, Tommy had gotten a gift or two in the past, but seeing five carefully (yet messily) wrapped and labeled with his full name - Thomas Innit-Minecraft, what a cool name, if he said so himself- made him want to burst into tears. But, taking Techno’s light-hearted warning too seriously, he sucked in a breath and quickly began to tear into one of his gifts instead.

Wilbur got a few books and some music sheets to write his own music, along with a long brown hooded trench coat-jacket thing and an embroidery kit. Techno got plenty of books, most about mythology or similar topics that would bore Tommy, and a few comfy pants and shirts. Tommy had gotten some music disks and a CD player (which was apparently a gift Wilbur had bought because ‘making CD mixtapes is so much cooler,’) he’d also gotten some crappy dollar store candy he just had to try and a whole shit-ton of new clothes. 

Techno had given Wilbur some orange headphones with cat ears on them as a gag gift, which the latter claimed looked like Fundy’s fox headphones. Despite Tommy’s wishes, Philza got a sweater as his Christmas gift instead of Tommy’s idea of a card that said ‘official old person’ as a gag gift. Tommy decided he had to get that as his father’s birthday present later in the year. With a small smile and a nudge, Tommy opened his gift from Techno, which was a wallet with his name burnt into the leather. 

“I have a similar one.” Techno admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, “you’ll be getting your license and bank account soon, if Dad does it the same way he did it for us, so I figured you could use something like that.”

Wilbur’s gifts were a lot more thoughtful (and way less practical) than Techno’s. He’d given the pink-haired brother a shitty red Party City cape and a fake gold staff. At the sight of the abhorrent presents, Techno had simply laughed and thrown wrapping paper in Wilbur’s face. In all honesty, Tommy thought Techno would’ve been more upset, but he donned the gift with mock pride and called himself the ‘ruler of the arctic.’ Next, Philza got another sweater and a new pair of the headphones he’d broken a few weeks prior from Wilbur. He thanked Wilbur by ruffling his hair and telling him he was ‘now his favorite.’ Tommy wouldn’t admit it stung a bit to hear, even if he knew Philza was joking. Despite that, Tommy hadn't expected Wilbur to slide a large tan guitar towards him with a grin, claiming he’d overheard Tommy playing Tubbo’s guitar and complaining he didn’t have his own a few months back. Niki had put her old acoustic up for sale and Wilbur snatched it before anyone else could ask. So in a way, it was also a gift from Niki.

Tommy repressed the urge to cry for the third time in the past hour.

He felt his gifts were stupid compared to his families but presented them with pride regardless. After a quick stop at a local hobby shop for paints, he’d managed to painstakingly customize the miniature cars for Techno and Wilbur to exactly replicate the way their drag cars looked. Techno’s had the spray-painted crown on the hood, and Wilbur’s had the white music notes that swayed across the sides of his car. They’d both gotten (what Tommy deemed as) unreasonably excited over the dinky toy cars and Tommy felt his chest swell with glee. Philza laughed and said something along the lines of racing with the old matchbox sets instead of the roads which caused techno to throw wrapping paper at him. Wrapper paper seemed like the ideal weapon today. With a bit of hesitance and a check to make sure everything was inside, Tommy handed Philza the bag he’d shoved his favorite candies in.

He didn’t want to give Philza the card he’d stayed up to three in the morning writing until they were alone. It felt too personal to scare with his idiotic, but loveable, brothers.

His father had rejoiced at the candy, asking Tommy where he’d found it. He couldn’t deny his father, so he told him exactly where to find it in the dollar store.

By the time they’d settled down, Wilbur had decided to teach Tommy some good songs on guitar,

“So you’ll stop only playing Smoke on the Water, like an idiot.” he’d said as he instructed Tommy through some simple melody. Apparently, it was a song Wilbur had been writing for a while (Tommy always forgot Wilbur was a music major) and Tommy couldn’t hold back his own musical critiques until Wilbur said something Tommy wasn’t ready to answer,

“Where’d you learn that?”

Tommy froze. His fingers pressing into the frets so hard he could feel the indent from the string and wood forming on his finger pad. Immediately, Philza noticed, and gently nudged Tommy’s shoulder. When the blonde looked over at his father, he simply smiled,

“I think that's enough music for now, Wil, why don’t you go help Techno with breakfast?” His tone was gentle and slow but also commanding, and Wilbur didn’t hesitate to quickly follow his father's instruction.

“Are you okay?” Was the next question Tommy didn’t know how to answer. So he robotically nodded and set the guitar on the floor and fell into the seated position he had been taught.

‘Back straight, shoulders back, chin up. Do not move, it’s improper.’

“Relax, Tommy.” Philza rested a hand on Tommy’s shoulder and he melted at the touch. Right, this was Philza, not Father. He was fine here, with no strict rules and stupid punishments.

“S-Sorry,” Tommy murmured as he leaned against Philza and he nodded.

“No need to apologize.” One arm wrapped around Tommy’s shoulders and he could feel Philza’s eyes trained on the piece of paper Tommy held between his knees.

“Uhm.” Tommy gently grabbed the piece of paper and held it out to Philza, “here, it’s… it’s for you.”

“Oh!” Philza took the letter and shook it open.

_ ‘Philza or Dad, _

_ I guess I just write things here? Tubbo wasn’t much help when I asked him. I just wanted to say thanks for taking me in even if you wanted someone else. I know I’m not the easiest kid, or the nicest, or the most talented, but I appreciate everything you’ve done. My last couple of houses have been super strict, which is why I _ ’ the rest of the sentence was scribbled out, ‘ _ Nevermind, I’ll explain that later, but this is in pen and I already wasted half of my notebook on this so I’m not rewriting the page for the twentieth time. I guess I just wanted to say thanks for treating me like a kid who can make mistakes and not a robot. Thanks for talking me through things and always being there. _

_ Tommy Innit-Minecraft _

_ Ps. Did you make Minecraft or is that just a coincidence?’ _

Tommy nervously watched as Philza read the letter. He noticed every slight frown or slight grin that passed Philza’s face, but he hadn’t expected the soft laugh and the well of tears in his eyes seconds before he was enveloped in a hug. It was warm, safe, and smelled oddly like cinnamon and pine trees.

“Thank you, Toms,” Philza murmured against the mess of blonde hair on Tommy's head and, for the first time in a while, Tommy fully reciprocated the hug as he whispered,

“No problem, Dad.”

He could feel Philza’s heart swell at the title.


	10. The Kids Aren't Alright, and I'm Not Just Quoting a Song.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The racetrack is exploited at the same time Tommy is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DREAM'S GONNA BE A BASTARD FOR A BIT I AM SORRY.  
> manipulative Dream, but in a different, less deadly, font.

December 28th was the first day the new raceway was used. Despite the busted up track, the ruined stands, and the next to the destroyed parking lot, a flock of around thirty kids showed up after Wilbur had spent hours spreading the word. They did some simple drag races on the east side of the track with the winnings being free lunch. As usual, Techno won, and thus his brothers (plus Tubbo, Niki, and Eret) won free lunch. 

“Gimme your Venmo’s assholes,” Sam had said as the group laughed at him for being the only one to actually have his credit card on him to pay for the meal. Shortly after, he left to go get the food in his truck. In the meantime, Dream had everyone pull their vehicles in a sort of disjointed circle so everyone was all in the same area and so they could all joke around.

“Did you hear they’re gonna let us pick teams and professionally race?” Wilbur said during a pause, and he had everyone's attention in a few seconds.

“Teams?” Someone had asked, Tommy assumed it was Ranboo,

“Mhm, you’ll have to make a team with up to ten people and you can't trade teams without disqualification. We’ll compete and win money or prizes and whatnot.” Wilbur adjusted his beanie, “My dad was telling me his company is gonna advertise and pay for some of the costs for the first race.”

“Didn’t his company buy this place? What do they even do?” Dream asked, taking a swig from his soda. Karl sat on the toolbox in the bed of Sapnap’s pickup truck with Quackity, while George napped in the backseat and Callahan played cards with Alyssa in the bed.

“They’re like investors or something?” Techno shrugged, tossing two water bottles to Skeppy and Bad, “I’ve never actually asked. But they like, buy things and then invest in their success. It’s a lot of watching stocks and trends. Apparently, racing is on an uphill climb, so they bought this track and are investing in it. Usually, when they do, they make like… twice profit or something?”

“Damn, that’s a nice job,” Eret commenting, adjusting Niki’s eyeliner while she giggled. Fundy rested his head in her lap as she idly braided together longer strands of his ginger hair.

“It’s a lot of math,” Tubbo admitted, closing his folder of Geometry homework and stuffing it in his backpack. Ranboo sat against the car, idly toying with a Rubix cube while Tommy kicked his leg with his worn-in Nikes.

“I hate math, why are numbers so hard,” Sapnap whined, draping himself against Karl and Quackity. The group laughed at Sapnap’s dramatics, which only egged him on to keep sighing and sliding until he fell off the toolbox and into the bed, kicking Callhan’s thigh. He got a hard slap and a quickly signed insult from the deer-hoodie-clad teen which caused the group to burst into laughter again. Conversations broke off about different things, adding to the chaos of the racetrack. While spacing out, Wilbur jumped as his phone pinged and yanked him back to reality, he looked down and grabbed it before smiling,

“My dad just sent me another document from his company,” he paused before gasping, “Guys! Guys! Shut the _fuck_ up, sorry Bad, But! Guys! They’re sponsoring a whole season for us! All the way to a championship race!”

The whole group burst into shouts and praise, Sapnap standing and dancing around while Alyssa smacked his leg with a laugh. Callahan clapped along to whatever song quackity began to belt, and Karl draped across him and joined in. Ranboo and Tubbo began shouting something with Fundy and Niki hugged Eret with a loud laugh. Wilbur laughed, slinging an arm around Tommy’s shoulders and squeezing him tight. Nudging Wilbur, the blonde grinned widely as he cheered. Sam came back, obviously confused with the three bags of food, and Callahan and Alyssa excitedly filled him in on the new information before he shouted something Wilbur couldn't hear over the noise. After quick planning with Antfrost and Puffy (who was apparently Dream’s RA?), they dumped their water bottles on Bad while cheering. Eventually, after everyone majorly calmed down, Sam handed out the food and the group began to fall into a quieter tone as they all finally ate their hunger away. It only lasted so long though, as most things do.

“Hey Techno,” Dream stood, brushing his hair back from under his hood, “I bet you a thousand dollars we’ll beat you at the championships”

“A thousand?” Techno grinned and the whole group fell silent as he pondered before grinning and sticking his hand out, “better take out a loan, green boy.”

Everyone started cheering.

\--

The teams had been picked and it went as follows:

The Dream Team, Main Racer: Dream, Other Racers: Sapnap, George, Callahan, Alyssa, and Sam

Sleepy Bois INC: Main Racer: Technoblade, Other Racers: Tubbo, Tommy, Wilbur, Schlatt, and Ranboo,

SMP: Main Racer: Bad, Other Racers: Skeppy, Puffy, Punz, Antfrost, Quackity, and Karl.

Pretty much everyone else didn't feel like they wanted to race, or wanted to help with booths or multiple teams. Once the teams had been submitted, a construction team took around three months of continuous work to repave the old roads and fix the stands, speakers, booths, bathrooms, motel rooms, everything! Over those months, every team worked on their cars, and by mid-April, it was time for the first weeks of training and practices.

But even at that time, tensions had already started to raise. People really dug in on the bit of Dream and Techno being some sort of arch-enemies and the two became these faces of the racetrack. But even if they messed around and laughed when surrounded by friends, there was an inkling of jealousy and competitiveness that would grow to swallow them whole.

“Hey, Tommy!” Dream waved him over to a small hill on the outskirts of the race track, neither Wilbur nor Technoblade were there that day, leaving Tommy by his own judgment.

“Hello Dream,” Tommy waves. His judgment wasn’t good today. The older teen smiled, leaning on his car a bit more, Subpoena and George were nowhere to be found, so it was just the two of them alone.

“I wanted to strike a deal with you, Toms. I can see a lot of potential in you to become a great racer, but I have a feeling your idiot brothers won’t let you express that great because they want to be the best. They’re gonna dim your shine, and well,” he chuckled, “They aren’t that great to begin with, are they? Wilbur's a loose cannon, he punched me for just driving you and Tubbo to the race for crying out loud! And Techno? He’s snappy and all high-and-mighty. I think we need to knock them off their high horses, what do you think?”

Tommy paused. Here Dream was, talking about how his brothers were purposefully shadowing him but had they been? Sure, Wilbur didn’t like when Tommy drove and he purposefully would drive double-time so Tommy didn’t have a chance to. Techno had been obsessed with beating Dream since the bet was placed. The two of them let Tommy make small decisions, like the decals on the car, or what color it should be. Hell, Tubbo got to drive more than Tommy did, if he really thought about it! _But_ Wilbur had said Tubbo drove more because he’d had his license for longer than just a few weeks, and Techno’s sarcasm was sometimes hard to pick out. He could’ve been joking around every time he mentioned Dream in the past months.

“Really, Tommy,” Dream started again, “I’ve known your brothers longer than you have. They’re territorial, they probably don’t like how you weaseled your way into their perfect home. I know I wouldn’t want another sibling. They’re probably doing this all on purpose, I’ve seen them do this before, to me. I don’t want you to end up as I did, why do you think I’m so close to George and Sapnap now?”

Maybe Dream was right, if it had happened to him, couldn’t it also happen to Tommy?

“I.. what do you want me to do?” Tommy asked and Dream grinned, showing all his teeth as he slung an arm around Tommy similarly to how Wilbur would.

“I want you to race for us, anonymously, of course. We have to wear helmets, so it would be easy to hide your face and everything identifiable about you.” Dream ruffles Tommy’s hair and the teen pulls away from him.

“Dream, you’re an idiot! If we get caught doing this, both teams get disqualified!” Tommy crossed his arms, huffing as he gripped the red sleeves of the shirt he’d gotten for Christmas.

“I knew you’d be defiant.” The elder boy rolled his eyes, almost like it was an inconvenience to him, “I’ll give you a few weeks to sort it out, okay? We have to finalize teams by the end of April.”

“Fine.” Tommy sighed, turning to leave.

“Don’t be stupid Tommy, you have potential. Don’t let your brothers waste it.” Dream called as he left and Tommy bit his lip, going back to Tubbo and Ranboo who were reciting something about the Bittenbinder Technique to one another while simultaneously working on the car.

He’d think about it, his brain would give him no choice.


	11. Dream Knows Best, Listen to Dream.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an argument with his brothers, Tommy goes rail-running with the Dream Team and makes a possibly deadly decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more manipulation through touch and words? fuck yeaaahh  
> also, Dadza moments bc I love him /p

The garage smelled a lot like oil, Tommy figured if he lit a match the whole building might go up in smoke. Luckily for him, March meant that it was finally getting warmer so thick coats and the slightly cracked garage door had been traded for a fully open door and sweatshirts. Techno was bent half into the engine compartment as he tried to fix some sort of issue with the cylinder misfiring. Wilbur had gone to the local hardware store to try and find some sort of car part, which left Tommy with absolutely nothing to do but wait for Techno to ask him to grab something: in short, he felt like a waste of space.

He spun a coin on the roof of the car as he leaned on it, sighing as he thought to himself, _‘Maybe Dream would let me work on their car._ ’ 

“Hey, I’m back,” Wilbur said and Techno sat up, muck from the engine of the car staining his already dirt-covered hoodie.

“Good, did you get the new cylinder and the spark plugs?” Techno asked and Wilbur nodded, handing over some small boxes.

“Can I help with this?” Tommy asked and Techno shrugged.

“I’d rather do the cylinder by myself, to make sure it’s aligned an’ shit ‘cause this engine’s old, but you can help me with the spark plugs and remounting the brake lights?” Techno smiled, “We’ll need to look our best to win.”

Wilbur sighs whilst leaning on the front of the car, “I dunno Tech, do you think Tommy knows enough?”

“It’s some damn _screws_ Wilbur, not even an orphaned baby would mess it up.” Techno laughed as he took off part of the engine to work on something Tommy didn’t know of. Dramatically, Tommy crossed his arms and sighed, leaning back with a sour expression.

“Toms, I’m joking.” Wilbur said, ruffling his brother's hair before slinging an arm across his shoulder, “didn’t mean to upset you.”

“...’s fine.” Tommy shrugged and Techno laughed.

“Aha! This’ll beat Dream’s shit four-cylinder.” 

“Why do you keep bad-mouthing him, Tech?” Wilbur teased, letting go of Tommy to walk over to the open hood.

“He’s an ass?” Techno shrugged, saying one of his few curse words of the day. Pushing himself off the wall, Tommy huffed and walked over to where the brake light covers were.

“He’s so self-entitled, thinking he’s gonna win.”

“He could still beat you, Techno.” Tommy turns around, staring down at his older brother, when the pink-haired boy doesn’t comment, Tommy continues, “ _Oh come on now,_ we both know this car is only as good as broke college kid money.”

“Tom,” Wilbur warns and Techno leans on the inside of the front-engine compartment, getting grease on his hands.

“Since when have you known anythin’ about cars? Hm? You don’t even drive regularly and you think you know more than I do? Toms, not to sound rude but you know nothing about this compared to me.” His yellowish eyes glared Tommy down and the blonde tutted as he turned to fully face Techno.

“Wilbur only lets Tubbo and Ranboo drive, he told me he doesn't trust me driving because I’m reckless or whatever but you don’t even know that because I never fuckin’ drive! And you, Tech, are so overly obsessed with beating everyone can you take a second to actually be a brother and help me learn? Stop shit-talking Dream every five seconds, it's annoying as shit!”

“Are you in love with the green guy or something?” Techno snaps and Wilbur tries to quiet him to no avail.

“No, but I’m a decent fucking person!” Tommy shouts back.

“Guys, please.” Wilbur holds both hands up.

“I bet Dream would be a better brother than you two! Maybe he’d actually let me help with the stupid ‘family car’ that feels more like Tubbo’s than mine!” Tommy screeched, tugging on the red fabric of his shirt.

“If you love Dream so much, go fucking work for his little charade and get us disqualified or something, Thomas!” Techno had a near animalistic snarl, “See if I care! It’s been me and Wilbur forever, _long_ before you showed up on our doorstep and changed everything!”

“Techno!” Wilbur shouted desperately but the blow was done. After a pause, Tommy threw the brake light onto the ground, effectively cracking it, before storming past Wilbur’s reach and Techno’s stare. His sneakers led him out of the garage, up the backyard, and to the freshly painted green front door. Without thinking Tommy slammed the door open and shut, startling his father who was sat inside doing work on the computer. Wiping his face as he passed the older man in the kitchen, who stood at the sight of Tommy’s obvious distress.

“Hey, hey—“ he tried from where he sat but Tommy refused to say anything, instead he just made his way to the basement and slammed the door shut with a loud grunt. Philza got up from the kitchen table, shutting his laptop, and made his way to the door. He paused there, pressing his ear against the dirty white paint on the door. In the silence, he could hear muffled sniffles as Tommy descended the stairs into his bedroom.

“Dad?” Wilbur asked, startling Philza. The tall boy stood next to him, anxiously picking at his lip. Philza shook his head, guiding the brunette away with a gentle press to his shoulder.

“Let’s give him some time to cool off, alright mate?”

* * *

It was 11:30 pm when Tommy moved his old, wooden desk chair to sit under the one window in his basement room. The chair was about two feet tall, effectively giving him enough height to scramble up the brick wall and into the little window well. Dream had messaged him at ten, saying he was going to the train tracks with Sapnap and George that night and that Tommy was free to tag along. Ever since the accident and his concussion, Tommy would usually stay back, but after he argued with his brothers today he wanted nothing more than to escape his house.

The grass was wet under his hands and he shimmed out of the window well onto the just barely growing grass. The cold night air stung his skin as he clambered onto the front yard and made a break for the tree line on the side of the house for cover. If he got caught, he’d just say he was taking a little lap around because he couldn’t sleep. Though, he wondered if the tiny black bag on his back, which was full of snacks, water, and clothes, would give his adventure away. He’d made the bag since his body liked to randomly make him light-headed all the time now. 

He hadn’t told anyone about _that_ discovery yet.

“Tom!” Sapnap whispered from his black truck window and Tommy snickered as he broke free of the tree line and walked over to the truck. He wasted no time throwing himself and his bag in the bed of the truck with Dream. Sapnap’s house was only down the road from Tommy’s new one, even if they had to ride on the main road which was illegal to do with someone on the bed, but who cared? Not them.

“C’mon, there’s a train tonight so we can press some pennies or something.” Dream shook his hoodie pocket which had a baggie of coins in it. Tommy grinned as he pulled a soda out of Sapnap’s cooler in the bed of his truck.

“Sounds good to me.”

Tommy loved running along the rails. He wasn’t sure why, but there was something about it that was just so perfect. Dream seemed to agree as they raced up and down the rails and jumped over small objects, making sure to push them off the rails after their parkour session for the oncoming trains. Sapnap and George were calmer, running or jogging alongside the rails, but occasionally bursting into chases after Dream that made Tommy wheeze with laughter.

“Hey, Toms.” Dream leaned back against a tree. It was about an hour into them running along the tracks when they’d decided to camp out and wait for the train instead of trying to track it down. They had probably run maybe three to five miles, and Tommy wasn’t complaining, he felt better than he had earlier.

“Hm?” Tommy looked over at Dream, finishing off the soda he’d stolen from Sapnap’s cooler.

“Did you think about my offer?” Dream looked over to where Sapnap and George had decided to attempt to build some sort of log bridge in the woods behind them. They were out of earshot as if planned.

“I did actually, I uhm. I wanna do it. I’m sick and tired of being pushed around at home and Wilbur and Techno are not believing me when I say I wanna help with the car!” He leaned back in the dew-covered grass and sighed, feeling it soak into the back of his shirt.

“Really? They keep pushing you around?” Dream asked, looking down at Tommy. He nodded and Dream sighed, “damn I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, they’re just set on winning. They don’t even let me work on the car! All I do is mount the light covers and clean the car and they don’t let me do anything because I don’t know anything, but they won’t let me work on it to learn how to do anything! Even when they do, they never say they’re proud of me. They compare me to Tubbo and Ranboo.” Tommy groaned, rubbing his face.

“C’mere Tom.” Dream held an arm out and Tommy sat up, curling against his side as Dream wrapped his arm around him and suddenly Tommy felt like he was in Wilbur’s arms again. It was oddly comforting, he and Wilbur typically didn’t argue as he and Techno did, so he felt safer than he’d like to admit.

“I think you made a good choice Tommy, _I’m_ _proud of you_.” Dream’s chest vibrated as he murmured. They sat still for another ten or so minutes until Dream perked up, feeling the rumble of the train under his feet. Before Dream could call out for him, Sapnap cheered as he yanked George away from their failed bridge (the mud on their wet sneakers proved that) as the train came around the bend. Quickly, Dream haunted Tommy to his feet and grabbed the supplies they’d let lay on the grass. The four of them stuck close to the trees until the locomotive slowed down at a stop nearby.

“Dude! Let’s hitch a ride!” Sapnap grinned, “I think it loops around to go behind your house, Tommy.”

“Does it? I can hear it sometimes if it’s clear enough.” Tommy grabbed his backpack off of Dream, thanking him softly as George nodded.

“Yeah, it’s like… maybe fifteen miles behind your house in the woods.” George shrugged, “we can do a trail run.”

“For fifteen miles?” Dream laughed, “It's only five behind my back yard and my mom gave me my keys back, so we can go back to my house and I can drive Tommy back home.”

The train slowed to a complete stop and Dream grabbed Tommy’s wrist similar to how Philza would keep a hold on him in crowded areas. Fuck, Tommy hated how much it made him think of home. Sapnap signaled and the group started in the direction of the back of the train where he’d allegedly seen something. Tommy decided Sapnap had eagle eyes, there was an unlocked, partially open train car that only took a slight nudge to slide the door open on and helped everyone climb in.

“The train’s moving!” Sapnap shouted as a warning as he basically swan dived into the hay on the bottom of the car. At a silent cue, Tommy took a running start to get in. Dream and Sapnap caught his arms and yanked him into the train and he sprawled out on the metal floor covered by hay.

“Cool. All we have to do is dodge people who might see us in the woods.” George shrugged as he laid back and yawned, ready to sleep like he always did. As the train started to move faster, Sapnap set his legs over the side of the train and Dream followed him. They spoke softly about something while Tommy leaned on the side of the train car wall and chugged the rest of a water bottle he’d newly opened. In the near-silent night, the wind blew their hair and the rumbling of the track relaxed Tommy as he closed his eyes and started to hum some sort of song Philza would sing to him. Dream joined in halfway through, seemingly also knowing the song. They sat there for maybe a half-hour until the train slowed down again and Dream shook George awake before they hopped off the train and slipped off into the woods. After the train passed them, they decided to run down the trails in a sort of mock manhunt. Eventually (after a few stops) they made their way through the slightly thinning forest to a backyard with a big treehouse. 

“My sister has a race like four towns over, tonight and my parents are there with her. Don’t worry about coming inside.” Dream grinned as he opened the sliding glass door to his house. He knocked some of the dirt off his shoes as he walked in, making everyone behind him follow in his footsteps. Inside the house, there was a loud purring noise as Dream leaned down and picked up a tiny brownish kitten.

“Oh, this is Patches. She’s a stray we adopted this winter.” Dream scratched her head as he grabbed his car keys off the counter, twirling them in his hand.

“Hi,” Tommy waved at the cat and she meowed back at him, making George and Sapnap laugh.

“Alright, kitty, go back to sleep, sorry we woke you.” Dream set her on the counter and she purred, bumping against his arm as he turned around. Once she realized Dream wasn’t going to give her more attention, she jumped off the table and slipped away upstairs.

“So, Tommy, I’ll drive you home. Sapnap you’re covered in mud so you should go change, George you’re falling asleep standing up, so…” he laughed, wrapping an arm around Tommy’s shoulders, “I’ll see you guys later, alright?”

“See ya!” George yawned as he went upstairs and Sapnap smiled, “it was nice to chat, Tommy. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye guys,” Tommy waved as Sapnap went upstairs too. After a beat, Dream grinned, tousling Tommy’s hair before guiding him outside to his sleek black car. After throwing his back on the floor of the passenger's side, Tommy slipped into the car next to Dream and looked out of the window at the twinkling of stars against the newly rising sun.

“So.” Dream said as he started up the car, “I was thinking about how I was gonna have you race under our team.”

“Okay?” Tommy leaned back in the seat as he and Dream buckled in sync.

“It’s really simple, we hide your face and you wear all black like some sort of nightmare demon and you race under our team.” Dream shrugged.

“What about Callahan and Alyssa though?” The younger looked over and Dream shrugged,

“They don’t want to race, they’re just here to help with pit-stops and maintenance. You don't even have to talk to them, and I won't tell them who you are either. The only other people who might know are Sapnap and George.” They’re about halfway there now, “But it’s better than working for your asshole brothers right?”

“Yeah..” Tomy sighs and Dream pouts, reaching over to squeeze his wrist.

“Do you wanna talk about what they said?” His voice is soft and Tommy shrugs.

“Techno said it’s ‘ _been me and Wilbur long before you came and changed everything._ ’ He’s right, obviously, but it still hurts, y’know? Tech and I have always bumped heads so I’m not surprised we argued, this one was just a _lot_ worse than usual.” Tommy shrugged it off, even if he could feel a bulge in his throat, “I want them to like me, I wanna stay in this house. They could send me away any day now and I don’t wanna go back to--”

Tommy’s voice cuts out after a particularly nasty voice crack and he turns away, pulling his arm away from Dream and towards his chest. The older boy is quiet for a few seconds before he sighs and parks a bit away from their house. While trying to suppress his tears, Tommy doesn’t realize Dream got out of the car until he feels the cool air on his face as Dream guides him out of the car.

“It’s gonna be okay, Tommy. Seriously.” Dream holds both of his shoulders, “Phil’s too nice to kick you out, believe me. He adores you, even if you don’t realize it. Just… it’s hard, I wish I could understand what it’s like so I could help you more. Think of our time together as a break where you don’t have to worry about what will happen at home. I’ll be a safe haven for you, right? If anything, _anything_ , happens, you’ll always have me, okay?”

Tommy nods and Dream ruffles his hair like Philza would, “Go get some sleep Toms, it’s almost four in the morning. I’ll call you tomorrow to chat if you want.”

“Goodnight Dream.” Tommy takes his bag off the floor of the car and Dream waves as Tommy walks away and into the tree line beyond the sidewalk beside his house. Once Dream pulls away, Tommy makes his way out of the other side of the treeline by his house, and he runs to the window and kneels down. He waits for a second, to make sure no one heard him, before leaning into the window well and nudging it open with his foot. He stuck his arm in the window and tossed his bag onto his bed, hitting something that wasn’t just sheets. He cursed lowly, thinking it was a person or maybe dinner, and quickly making up excuses as he stuck his legs through the window and slowly lowered himself onto the chair. He was surprised that it was still there. Once stable on the chair, Tommy took a moment to shut the door and breathe. The lanky blonde hopped down off of the chair and looked over at his bed. Curled in the blankets was Tubbo, his hands around his closed laptop.

‘He must’ve been hacking something while waiting for me...’ Tommy thinks as he grabbed his duvet and laid it across Tubbo. After a moment of silence to ensure Tubbo hadn’t awoken, he turned and grabbed some new clothes and changed without much thought about his sleeping friend. The two had known each other since they were basically toddlers anyway. He just knew he didn’t want to smell like pine sap anymore.

“Tommy?” Tubbo murmured and Tommy tugged a new hoodie on. He turned to see Tubbo sleepily rubbing his face as he yawned.

“Hey.” The blonde whispered, walking over and sitting down next to Tubbo.

“Where’d you go? I’m not mad, I just want to make sure you’re okay. Whenever you sneak out it’s usually because something happened.” Tubbo was oddly coherent for just waking up, but it was too early for a sleep-deprived teen like Tommy.

“Your eyes are bloodshot, did you smoke or something?” Tubbo asked with a credulous tone and Tommy laughed while shaking his head.

“No, no, I was just… in the wind a lot.” He didn’t want to admit he’d cried, even to Tubbo, “I went with Dream, Sapnap, and George to the train tracks and we rode the train. We can talk more in the morning, I wanna get some sleep okay bitch?” 

Tommy grinned and Tubbo laughed, slotting his laptop in his backpack and smacking the bed beside him.

“As long as you don't steal my blanket, I’m fine with just going back to bed, dickhead.” Tubbo yawned as he laid back down and Tommy followed suit. He laid in bed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before his lack of sleep finally caught up to him. After a quick stretch and a yawn, Tommy rolled into a comfortable position and allowed himself to fall asleep.

Just outside the basement door, Philza grinned, happy his son had at least made it home in one piece, his security system alerting him of the motion in the front yard. The system had been put in place because of past crime in the area, but he wasn’t complaining that it’d caught Tommy’s escape on camera. It lessened his anxiety about his youngest whereabouts. He might’ve not approved of Tommy sneaking out, but he’d stay up to ensure his safe return anyway. Despite how much he wanted to know, Philza wasn’t gonna force Tommy to tell him anything, he’d just wait for him to come around. 

He would have to eventually.


	12. Car Go Vroom Vroom Speedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream takes Tommy racing, Tommy falls for his trap a bit more.

Waking up for school the next morning was hell, in Tommy’s eyes. Tubbo was awake, bright and early. He ended up shoving Tommy off the bed to wake him up only when he realized if Tommy didn’t get up, they’d be late. They clambered up the stairs to where Wilbur was sitting and Tubbo couldn’t deny the obvious tension in the room. Tommy grabbed a water bottle while Tubbo was more responsible and grabbed a breakfast bar and a water bottle. The two were already running late so they ate while driving to school instead of their usual sit down on the couch and watch some shit kids cartoon.

“C’mon Tommy, I’ll drive this morning,” Tubbo said and Tommy shook his head, grabbing his own keys as well.

“I have to work after classes, so I’m gonna drive myself so one of us isn’t stuck without a ride.” He lied effortlessly, he knew the real reason he was driving. Tubbo nodded, not thinking much of it, and walking out the door with Tommy in tow.

* * *

Classes literally couldn’t have gone slower, but after their last class together, Tubbo bid goodbye to Tommy before meeting up with Ranboo in the hallway. Tommy would usually complain that Tubbo was leaving him all alone but today, he didn’t even care. He almost broke into a sprint through the halls as he made it to his car and tore off his hoodie and grabbed a beanie he’d stolen from Wilbur and shoved it on. He started up his car and slowly backed out of his parking spot before he basically raced out of the parking lot. His hands were sweaty on the wheel, both from nerves and excitement, as he made his way to the race track. It was open for public use, considering it was still fairly new.

He parked his small, black car in a nearby parking lot for some walking trails. He made sure all his stuff was hidden to make the car look nearly empty (and so if Wilbur or Techno walked by, they wouldn’t recognize it was his) before he slipped a black face mask on and made his way across the road to where the race track itself was.

“Tommy!” Dream called and Tommy whipped around to see Dream’s racing car, bright green with its little black smiley face spray-painted on the side.

“Oh, hey!” Tommy called, grinning.

“Here, pop in the driver's seat.” Dream set the car in park and climbed out, “I wanna see you drive around here.”

“Aight! Which track do you want me to try?” Tommy asked, getting in and adjusting the seat, and buckling himself in before putting the car in drive.

“Why don’t you try… try the drag track?” Dream shrugged, “it's just a straight line, it won’t be that hard.”

“Alright.” Tommy shrugged, slowly letting off the brake so the car could roll forward a bit before he slowly tapped the sensitive gas pedal to bring the car to a slightly faster speed. Dream watched him as he drove, his eyes focused on the mirrors, his surroundings, and what was in front of him. He seemed like a cautious driver… Dream would have to break that.

“Alright… do you know what to do?” Dream asks and Tommy shrugs.

“Slowly gun it?” He asked and Dream laughed.

“Yeah, close enough. You don’t wanna slam it and lose control or hurt the engine, so let it ramp up a bit slower. Don’t stomp it but push it down quick, if that makes sense?” Dream leaned back, “just try it, we can tweak it later.”

Tommy pulled up the white line painted for the race strip and took a slow breath, adjusting himself in his seat.

“Ready?” Dream asked and Tommy turned to him with a nod.

“Three… two… one… go!” Dream shouted and Tommy immediately swapped his foot over and slammed it into 30 mph, then forty, then fifty, then not even halfway through the track he hit sixty-five and slowly made his way to a peak of seventy as he passed the ending of the short quarter-mile track. He let go of the gas and slowly switched to the break and slowly let the call pull back down, all the way to fifteen before he began to turn back around.

“Holy shit Tommy.” Dream laughed, “I… that was a great trial run. Drop me off and let me do the Water Box, you can get a bit faster dude. Maybe it’ll even start a burnout this time.”

“Oh, hell yea.” Tommy grinned, adrenaline pumping in his veins and numbing his arms. As he pulled back around he noticed a familiar red car parked alongside a black one. Eret was here, and so was Niki, which meant it was likely Fundy and Wilbur had tagged along. Dream noticed it too and squeezed Tommy’s shoulder as he got out of the car once it was parked a bit before the Water Box. He watched as Dream hosed it down, his eyes squinting against the sun's reflection. Once it was good, Dream walked to the tree pole lights and flicked them on as he waved Tommy over. He pulled him up to the line and then stopped him, grinning as he motioned for Tommy to roll down his window as he walked over.

“Alright so, what you wanna do now is watch the lights. There are two infrared sensors that will track when you cross the starting and the end line, so don’t worry about trying to time it.” Dream explains casually, “but yea, the lights, uhm. So the ambers will flash in intervals three times until the green light flicks on. You have to wait for the green, okay? Jumping the gun will cause the red light to go off, which would disqualify you.”

“So three flashes of Amber and then go?”

“No no, I explained this so bad, uhm… okay! Tommy, so as you pull up they’ll be blinking down the line, top middle bottom, top middle bottom, right? That’s to indicate the pre-stage. The stage lights are when they’ll all hold on for about ten seconds before all flashing three times before the green light kicks on, okay?” Dream steps back towards the controls, “try this one on your own.”

Tommy nodded and rolled his window back up as he glanced towards the lights. They flashed and flashed until Dream pressed a button and they held their color. He slipped headphones on, grinning at Tommy as the lights flashed. Three… two… one… green. Without hesitation, Tommy stepped on it, a second delay of burnout later and he was shooting down the track.

The euphoria of racing filling his head as he pressed the pedal down as hard as he could. The car roared and screamed as he held the steering wheel as steady as possible while he watched for the finish. Once he passed it, he let off of the gas and began to slowly apply the brake, whooping to himself. He turned the car around and looked up to see his time, 15.667 seconds. Fifteen seconds to go a quarter-mile.

That was fucking  _ awesome _ .

“Dude!” Dream laughed as Tommy pulled back up, parking the car and stretching as Dream opened the passenger's door and climbed in.

“That’s almost half my time” Dream grinned happily, “you’re really gonna be a damn good racer if we keep training like this.”

“How much longer do I have to race today?” Tommy asked excitedly and Dream shrugged,

“Until your curfew.”

“So until the streetlights go on,” Tommy smirked and Dream cackled.

“Hell yeah dude, I’ll be here all night anyway, no parents' home means no curfew! Now c’mon I wanna see more racing from you!” Dream smacked his shoulder and stopped back so Tommy could roll his window up.

* * *

After what felt like a thousand reps of the same track, Tommy’s phone started ringing as he pulled up to Dream. He held his hand up as he saw the contact, Philza.

“Shit, it’s my dad.” Tommy shut the car off and quickly answered the call with a simple, “Hi, dad.”

“Tommy. Tubbo came over and said you two were supposed to be studying together tonight, why aren’t you home? And where did you go?” Philza asked and Tommy swallowed thickly.

“O-Oh, I forgot we were studying tonight. I just ran out to the store after work, I’ll be home in like… a half-hour?” Tommy lied clean and Dream grinned.

“Oh, okay Toms. Dude, just tell me where you’re going next time, okay? I don’t mind if you go out for a drive or whatever.” Philza’s grin was audible and Tommy nodded.

“Okay, thanks, Dad.” He smiled and the two said goodbyes before hanging up.

“So?” Dream asked and Tommy groaned, double-checking the call was over before turning towards Dream.

“I’ve gotta go home, I forgot Tubbo was coming over tonight to study with me,” Tommy admitted softly and Dream nodded.

“No problem dude, I can drive you over to your car if you want?” Dream stepped back as Tommy got out of the car and Dream took his place in the driver's seat. Tommy nodded and made his way into the passenger's seat. The ride home to his car was short and he climbed out with a soft thank you. Dream rolled down his window as Tommy walked over to his small, used car.

“Hey, Toms!” Dream shouted and the blonde kid in front of him turned.

“Yeah?” He asked, tilting his head like a puppy.

“I’m proud of you.” Dream smiles before rolling up his window and pulling away. Tommy waved and unlocked his car, tearing his jacket off and stuffing it in his trunk along with his mask, beanie, and sunglasses. He then grabbed some old soda cans in the back and threw them in a plastic bag from the grocery store he’d never taken out of his trunk. He slammed the trunk closed and got into the driver's seat, putting the decoy grocery bag in his passenger seat before buckling in and starting his car.

As he drove home, Tommy felt a warmth spread through his chest. The dream was proud of him. He was actually proud of him, unlike the actual family. Maybe Dream wasn’t all that bad, He thought, Maybe Wilbur, Techno, and Philza are just overreacting. Why would Dream be legitimately proud of him if he was a bad guy? Bad people didn’t feel pride in anything besides their own sick schemes working. He sighed to himself and nodded. Yeah, yeah. Dream was nice.

He pulled into the driveway and grabbed his decoy groceries as he got out of his car and double-tapped the lock button so the car horn honked and warned his family of his impending entrance to the house. As he stepped in, he could hear Wilbur and Philza laughing in the kitchen, so he made his way there. Wilbur passed him in the hallway and ruffled his hair as he passed while shouting a goodbye over his shoulder. Tommy waved and entered the kitchen.

“Sorry for not telling you where I was,” Tommy said, rocking back and forth on his feet as Philza tugged on his jacket.

“Hm? Oh no, it’s fine Tommy, I just wanted to make sure you were okay!” Philza grinned giving him a hug before stepping back.

“Why do you smell like gasoline?” Philza asked, looking him up and down and Tommy shrugged.

“I think I forgot to grab a new shirt this morning and I’m still wearing the one I wore yesterday when we were working on the car.” This lie came out a bit obviously, but Philza just nodded. He knew he was lying, but he wasn’t gonna pry it out of Tommy, especially not now.

“I have to run down to work really quick and run some numbers and such for the race coming up, okay Tommy?” Philza asked, ruffling his hair.

“Yep!” Tommy grinned as Tubbo ran up from behind him and jumped on his back. The blonde screeched and Tubbo cackled as he nearly knocked Tommy down, leaving Philza to just shake his head at the two.

“Stay safe tonight, okay? I’m trusting you two to get yourselves dinner.” He ruffled Tubbo’s hair as he walked to the door. 

“Okay! Stay safe too!” Tommy shouted at the same time Tubbo shouted a goodbye accompanied by a large wave. Tubbo drug Tommy to the kitchen counter-island-thing and sat him down before shoving his phone in Tommy’s face.

“Look at these new racers! Eret wasn’t close enough to see their faces, but the one driving has the current fastest record for the quarter-mile drag strip!” Tubbo was legitimately excited and Tommy could feel his stomach drop as he looked down to see a video of himself racing. It was one of the first ones he’d done, and Tommy didn’t have the heart to tell Tubbo what was truly going on.

“That’s so fucking cool.” He opted for instead, “Damn.”

“I know right! We’re gonna have some serious competition in the quarter-mile category!” Tubbo grinned, sitting on his own chair and Tommy nodded.

“Yeah, seriously.” He felt sick.


	13. We Can't Go One Day Without an Argument Here.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tubbo and Tommy go out for dinner, whilst Wilbur's a bit on edge with his younger brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit of a longer chapter because there's a lot that I had to add oops  
> I also lost track of how long it was because I wrote half of this on a different google doc.

“I’m hungry,” Tubbo said, kicking the blankets off his legs. They’d gone down to Tommy’s room to continue some movie they’d started that Tommy didn’t care for. Glancing over at his clock, Tommy noticed it was close to seven.

“Yeah, we could get dinner?” He suggested, 

“Could we go to the little diner you work at?” Tubbo sat up and Tommy shrugged.

“Yeah, sure.” he grabbed his keys off his bedside table with a grin towards his best friend.

“Woo woo!” Tubbo untangled himself from his blankets and then tripped, effectively crashing back onto the floor and causing Tommy to burst into laughter.

“Dear God, this is why I’m driving us tonight.” He grabbed his jacket from his bed and Tubbo managed to finally get himself out.

“Actually after dinner, I have to run home to help my sister with her class project. My dad’s giving me twenty dollars for helping her.” Tubbo grinned and Tommy laughed.

“A good trade.”

\--

Tubbo held the door open for Tommy as they stepped into the small cafe and seated themselves in a booth behind the counter. They already knew what they wanted to order, so they didn’t touch the small pamphlets resting on the table. As they got settled in, Tubbo shed his sweatshirt and leaned back into the warmth of the cafe. Tommy followed suit shortly after and then stretched. The familiar red and white pattern of his shirt, one of the many similar shirts he'd been given by Philza after the man had noticed his love of the original shirt, was bright. And it ended up catching someone's eye.

“If it isn’t the lanky boy’s kid brother.” a ginger woman crossed her arms, grinning, her name-tag reading ‘SALLY F.’

“Hey, Sal!” Tubbo grinned and Tommy waved.

“Ew, my brother’s here?” Wilbur’s head turns from where he’s seated at the coffee bar next to a blue-haired person.

“Hi Will! Hi Frie!” Tubbo grins again and Tommy waves again. Wilbur nodded back and Frie grinned wide as they signed back a hello.

“Yep.” Sally giggles, “looks like siblings do think alike.”

“I literally work here,” Tommy rolls his eyes with a small smirk, “Plus, it was Tubbo’s idea.”

Wilbur laughs and gets up, walking over to do something when he pauses before asking, “Toms, why do you smell like gasoline?”

“Hm? Oh! Shit, I forgot to change my shirt. I must’ve been wearing this when I was working on the car.” He shrugged, “I totally forgot about it.”

Wilbur huffs, taking a seat next to Tommy and crossing his arms as he speaks in a lower tone, “You know you’re not supposed to work on the car alone, Tommy.”

“I should be able to work on the car, Dad got it for the whole team and I’m on the team.” Tommy reasoned back.

“Yeah, but you don’t know anything about cars Tommy, you’ll break it.” 

“I don’t know anything because you and Tech won’t even teach me!”

“Remounting an engine and then redoing the majority of the wiring isn’t something a newbie at cars should be learning!” Wilbur smacked a hand on the table and Tubbo looked at Sally awkwardly.

“Well then teach me something simple!”

“We already did everything anyway--”

“--What do you guys wanna order, Tubbo?” Sally raised her voice and when Wilbur looked up at her, she nodded her head back to the counter.

“A plain pizza with chips and two Cokes,” Tubbo said softly and the woman nodded, quickly walking off but not without smacking the backside of Wilbur’s head as she passed him. Frie giggled. As the argument dwindled, Tommy thought back as he looked down at the table. He thought of Dream’s smile and how he’d been bubbly and excited to show Tommy everything about their car and how ecstatic he’d been with Tommy’s racing.

Maybe Dream  _ was _ better than his brothers.

“Earth to Tommy.” Tubbo snapped under his head and Tommy glanced up at his bright-eyed friend, who smiled widely.

“Sorry, I was thinking.” Tommy chuckled, leaning back and the other nodded in recognition.

“Yeah, but hey, are you excited for the first race next weekend?” Tubbo leans on the table.

“Mhm! We’ve been doing a lot of training, well, you and Ranboo have. I’ve just been watchin’.” Tommy huffs and Tubbo nods in agreement,

“Yeah, it does suck Wilbur and Techno won’t let you drive more… but maybe because this is the mini-season to test everything out? Maybe they’ll let you practice in the off-season?” Tubbo gave him an optimistic smile, but Tommy just shrugged.

“Hopefully, I’m sick of not driving,” Tommy grumbled and Tubbo laughed softly.

“I’m sure you’ll drive soon.” He grinned and Tommy’s stomach flipped, there was a flicker behind Tubbo’s eyes that made him think that Tubbo knew. But Tubbo couldn’t know. They’d made sure no one would know.

“Pizza and fries-- or chips, whatever.” Sally chuckled, setting down the dishes, “I’ll grab your cokes now, so I’ll be right back!”

“Thanks!” Tubbo and Tommy shouted before Tommy turned to Tubbo and shrugged.

“Must be a busy night tonight if she didn’t already grab the sodas… or Sapnap broke the soda dispenser again.” The blonde grinned whilst grabbing a fist full of the long, salty potato fries.

“Again? How?” Tubbo chuckled, going to cut a piece of the pizza as Sally came back. The two quickly thanked her before Tommy replied,

“He was trying to push all the buttons at once and the thing short-circuited, and then another time he was rough-housing with Dream and he punched it and cracked one of the soda sprayers and shot Root Beer all over the kitchen,” Tommy explained and Tubbo burst into giggles.

“All over the kitchen?”

“Oh all over! We still find random stains from it under the machines and such.” He was laughing too, a bright smile covering his face.

“What else happens here?” Tubbo took a bite of his slice of pizza and Tommy hummed while sipping his coke.

“We dyed Ranboo’s hair after hours in the kitchen sink.” He shrugged and Tubbo nearly choked while laughing. Tommy couldn’t help the genuine giggles that left his mouth at the sight of his friend so elated over his stupid kitchen stories.

“Oh! And there was this one time Drista came into the kitchen and tried to stab Dream with a fork! She got me to help, and of course, we almost succeeded until we got shouted at. George skipped a shift by taking a nap in the cooler, Bad and Skeppy set a tissue on fire once and set the fire alarms off, Sam broke a door handle and jerry-rigged some sort of contraption that worked for a few days before they could actually fix the door. There was a time Ranboo came in on an icy day and started a snowball fight that ended up with Dream getting a bloody nose… there are so many stories I’ll have to tell you sometime.” Tommy giggled, “Majority of them involve Dream egging us on or getting us involved in stupid shit.”

“How are you all even still working here?” Tubbo laughed, taking a sip of his soda. Tommy shrugged.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Tommy grinned as he grabbed his own slice of the cheesy pizza. The rest of their dinner was aided by small back and forth quips and the occasional story until they paid, left a good-sized tip for their friend, and made their way out to the parking lot.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at the track for training, right?” Tubbo asked, swirling his bee keychain in his hands.

“Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world.” Tommy grinned, fist-bumping Tubbo before he was pulled into a hug.

“Bye, I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” Tubbo murmured and Tommy hugged him back.

“Talk to you soon, clingy.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk!” Tubbo shouted and Tommy burst into laughter.

* * *

Tommy stepped into the front door, taking his jacket off and kicking his sneakers down the stairs to his room before walking into the kitchen. Techno sat, drying off some forks he must’ve just pulled out of the dishwasher.

“Hey, is Dad still at work?”

“Mhm.” Techno turned, yawning as he stuffed the forks in their respective spot in the drawer before turning to his brother, “You ate, right?”

“Yep. Tubbo and I went to the diner, Wilbur was there too.” Tommy sat at the counter, playing with the charms on his keychain. The front door open and Techno and Tommy watched as Wilbur stepped into the house and stripped off his long brown jacket.

“Toms,” Techno said, leaning over the counter with a confused look.

“Yeah?” Tommy asked, meeting his gaze.

“Why do you smell like gas from the car?” Techno tilted his head.

Before Tommy could answer, Wilbur had cut him off with a shout as he walked down the hall, his boots slamming into the wood, “Oh, he was working on it.”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Wil!” Tommy growled, knowing if he’d told the truth of him racing with Dream, that Wilbur would’ve been so pissed he’d have called Philza.

“Nah, it's not that bad.” Techno shrugged, “Just ask-”

“-He’s gonna fuck up the car, Tech! He doesn’t know anything about it.”

“It’s a damn Ford we tossed a Cummings in, it’s not that hard.” Tommy cried, “I know how to do more than you guys let me express!”

“It’s still dangerous Toms! You could set it on fire by putting the plugs in the wrong spots, or by putting the wrong type of gas in it since it’s a diesel.” Wilbur crossed his arms, “I get wanting to work on it, but you should ask us first.”

“Are you fuckin’ serious?” Tommy snapped, “Whenever I ask you guys say ‘no no it's not ready for you yet' but then today, you told me Wil, that it was already done!”

“We race next week, of course, it’s fucking done, Tommy!” Wilbur’s voice raised and Tommy brought his hands into his hair and tangled them in the blonde locks.

“Oh my fuckin’ god.” He muttered as he stood, gripping his car keys tightly in his fist as he tried to pass Wilbur in the hall.

“You guys won’t even let me race anyway, this is not worth arguing,” Tommy grumbled and Techno went to explain calmly while Wilbur stepped close to his younger brother sharply whilst shouting.

“You don’t know what you’re doing!” He shouted and Tommy snapped his head aside and flinched away before whispering.

“You don’t listen to me anyway.” He ducked around Wilbur before hastily making his way downstairs and slamming his bedroom door and locking it and his hands shook. He needed to get out of the house. He needed to call Dream.

* * *

“Wil? Tech?” Phila pushed open the front door, “you guys okay? I got the code.” 

He shut the wood door behind him and kicked his shoes off at the door as he walked into the kitchen where Wilbur and Techno sat in silence.

“Hello? Earth to my sons?”

“Dad, Wilbur fucked up.” Techno leaned back and Philza nodded.

“Oh?”

“I got in an argument with Tommy over him working on the car without us and I kinda got in his face and he flinched before locking himself in the basement.” Wilbur rushed out. Philza paused, letting the words register in his mind before he groaned.

“Do you need fuckin’ anger management, Wil?” Philza takes his hat off and sets it on the counter.

“Sorry,” Wilbur mutters and Philza turns, making his way down the basement stairs before knocking on Tommy’s bedroom door.

“Toms?” He calls. No response. He knocks again and calls out. No response. After the third time, he sighs.

“I’m coming in, okay?” He doesn’t wait for an answer before he creaks open Tommy’s door.

Tommy isn’t there.

* * *

“C’mon, this is gonna be the coolest thing.” Dream grinned, pulling Tommy by his sleeve. The blonde dragged his feet with mock groans of complaints while Dream just walked ahead. His parents weren’t home again, out celebrating something with his sister, and he’d asked Tommy to come over so he’d feel less alone. Tommy, already wanting to get out of his own home, had agreed instantly.

“If it’s your cat again, I quit working with you,” Tommy said sarcastically.

“It’s not Patches.” Dream positioned Tommy in front of his garage door and then kneeled, opening the door to reveal a sleek, white car. Some sort of old Ferrari.

“Holy shit,” Tommy whispered and Dream grinned.

“Sap, Gogy, and I saved up enough money to get this off a cheap rental website. It’s a spare car, but I figured if you wanted to, we could work on it and make it a car for you to drive? I can teach you everything, like mounting the engine, the wiring, how to make sure every little bit and bob on this monster works?” Dream turned and Tommy laughed.

“I wanted to get out of the house because I had literally argued with Tech and Wilbur about not being able to work on the car on my own. This is the best news I’ve had all day.” he grinned over at his ‘friend’ and Dream beamed.

“Then why don’t we start! We can start with the cylinders on the engine, and I can show you how to remount the fan..” Dream kept rattling off with genuine excitement and Tommy followed him into the garage, glancing back at a familiar black car that slowed by the house before speeding up again.

“So… what are we starting with?” Tommy asked and Dream hummed.

“Let me show you how to take this all apart, and you can help, you won't’ have to just awkwardly watch.” He smiled, handing Tommy a wrench. Tommy grinned and Drema started pointing at a part of the engine and explaining what they were and how they worked. About halfway into the learning experience, a car parked outside the garage, and Dream waved as Sapnap and George climbed out.

“Hey, guys!” Tommy waved and Sapnap shouted a hello back as George just nodded.

“Why’s the kid here?” George yawned, leaning on the wall.

“He’s gonna drive this car.” Dream explains as if the others already know what he’s saying and they both pause.

“Like, he’s gonna join the team with us and be on the team with his brothers?” George spoke soft and Sapnap turned.

“Don’t they already wanna kill you enough, Dream?” The black-haired teen snapped, adjusting his white bandana, “Plus, we’ll get disqualified.”

“It’ll be fine, it’s four races to the championships, and we’re hiding his identity with the fully tinted windows, his mask, his sunglasses, a beanie, and a full black outfit. IF we do get caught, which we won't, I promise, I’ll take all the blame.” Dream leaned on the table where the car's engine sat and Tommy waited for Sapnap to shout before George spoke up first.

“Whatever, I’m in. I’m gonna go take a nap in the treehouse.” He waved before disappearing around the edge of the garage and Sapnap sighed.

“This is a dumb idea, Dream.”

“Oh, come on now, Sapnap, I’m smart enough to orchestrate this whole thing. I promise we’ll be fine.” Dream smiled sugary sweet and Sapnap just gave in, not wanting to fight back.

“Fine, but I’m throwing you under the bus if we get caught.” he turned, looking at the car and whistling slowly.

“I’d deserve it.” Dream shrugged, “but yeah, she’s a beaut, isn’t she? Just needs a quick fix on the engine and some tune-ups with the lights and she’ll be good to go.”

“Hey Tommy, since you’re driving this, what color should I paint it? Black like Dreams before he spray-painted that blob on it.” Sapnap smirked and Dream rolled his eyes.

“You and I both know that was Dris.” He crossed his arms and Sapnap raised his hands in defeat whilst laughing. Tommy hummed, squinting his eyes like he was really thinking before he grinned.

“What if we made every panel a slightly different red?” He chuckled and Sapnap shrugged, walking over to the paint.

“Are you stupid that would look so ugly!” Dream laughed, knowing Tommy and Sapnap were just toying around.

“I think it’d be great.” Tommy shrugged, turning back to the engine and toying with one of the lug-nuts on the engine before Dream began to shout at Sapnap who ran away with some red paint in his hands. Tommy laughed as he continued to work at getting one of the panels loose so Dream could show him the next step. 

For the rest of the night, Tommy stayed up with Dream working on pulling the engine apart until the sun began to peek over the horizon. By then, Dream drove Tommy home, promising to let him work more on the car the next time he could sneak out.  Tommy missed the front room light being on, and the figure sitting near the window, as he tiredly made his way to the side of his house and into his window. Luckily, Philza hadn’t moved his desk chair from its spot under the window, so he was still able to get into his room easily. He immediately took a quick shower to wash the grease and the oil smell off of him and threw his dirty clothes in the wash before crashing on his bed in some old pajamas as Technoblade got up for work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a friendly reminder that I love reading people's thoughts on my stories, so don't hesitate to comment literally anything!   
> I also love talking about my AU's so you can come chat on my Tumblr @ arson-lst (the i is a lowercase L)


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